VOA标准英语2014--Expanded Partnership To Help Smallholder Farmers 意在帮助小农户的合作关系

 

Expanded Partnership¹ To Help Smallholder Farmers 意在帮助小农户的合作关系

From the very beginning, reducing global hunger and poverty has been one of President Barack Obama’s overarching priorities.  That is why the President and the United States Government launched the Feed the Future Initiative, to support countries in developing their own agriculture sectors³ to generate opportunities for economic growth and trade, which can help reduce poverty, hunger and undernutrition. Because growth in the agricultural sector² is, on average, at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other sectors, Feed the Future is investing in smallholder farmers.

To achieve greater impact, Feed the Future partners with civil society, the private sector, and muli-lateral organizations. An example of this collaboration⁴ is the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, launched by President Obama two years ago at the G8. It is a partnership representing a commitment by donors⁵, African governments, civil society and private companies to lift 50 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa out of poverty by 2022. Recently, under the New Alliance, the U.S. Agency for International Development, teamed up with the DuPont Company to help some 35,000 smallholder farmers in both Ethiopia and Ghana increase their yields by as much as 50 percent.

In late January, on the margins⁶ of the World Economic Forum⁷ at Davos, Switzerland, USAID and DuPont built on their existing partnership and announced a joint⁸ global agreement to deepen efforts to reduce global hunger and poverty by enabling smallholder farmers access to proven, safe, and transformative agricultural innovations.

The two partners will work to improve farmers’ access to proven and safe seed technologies, credit, markets, and better storage facilities; they will help improve value chain development, from farm to market to table and  improve nutrition through biofortification of once widely cultivated, but now neglected crops. 

The partners will also provide training and support improving crop quality and yields, and help smallholder farmers address climate change.  Dr. Shah, Administrator⁹ for USAID states, “By improving smallholder farmers’ access to key tools and technologies, we can help ensure they have the opportunities to participate in increasingly global markets.”

 

“Better productivity, easier market access, and higher incomes lead to less poverty and improved nutrition. This is the vision that drives USAID’s leadership of Feed the Future and our ongoing¹⁰ contributions to the New Alliance.”

1 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

2 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

3 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

5 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

7 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

8 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

9 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

10 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。