Asia's economic growth is undoubtedly a good thing, but it does pose new challenges. Among the most pressing right now is how the continent will feed itself. Solutions are not in short supply, although policy makers need to be willing to adjust their approach to the problem.
洲经济增长无疑是件好事，但确实也带来新的挑战。目前最紧迫的问题是如何满足自身食品需求。虽然并不缺少解决办法，但决策者需愿意调整他们解决这个问题的方式。
Asia is home to three of the world's most populous and fastest growing countries: China, India and Indonesia. While economic growth has pulled many people out of poverty, more than half of the 842 million chronically undernourished people in the world live in Asia, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Despite record economic development and an expanding middle class, food insecurity still persists in the fastest growing region in the world.
亚洲有全球人口最多、增长最快的三个国家：中国、印度和印尼。据联合国粮食和农业组织(U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization)称，尽管经济增长令许多人摆脱贫困，但全球8.42亿长期营养不良的人口中有超过一半居住在亚洲。尽管经济发展速度达到创纪录水平并且中产阶级队伍不断扩大，这个全球增长最快的地区依然面临食品短缺问题。
Although poverty is the principal cause of hunger, the precise relationship between income and hunger is more complex than some might think. Small changes in food production today have dramatic effects on price, and high food prices disproportionately affect the poor. Market-distorting subsidies, insufficient public investment in agriculture all conspire to sustain chronic undernourishment.
尽管贫困是 饿的主要原因，但收入和 饿之间的精确关系要比一些人认为的更加复杂。如今食品产量发生一丝变化就会对价格产生巨大影响，高企的价格将对穷人产生更严重的影响。扭曲市场的补贴以及针对农业的公共投资不足都会令长期营养不良问题持续下去。
The root of the problem is parochial food policies that constrain both farmer incomes and investment levels, and inhibit access to safe, affordable and nutritious food. Unintended consequences of such policies have played out across Asia. Thailand continues to feel the ramifications of its market-distorting rice subsidies, which have made its crop uncompetitive on the global market. For the first time in 30 years, Thailand is no longer the world's largest exporter of rice.
问题的根源在于狭隘的食品政策，这些政策对农民收入和投资水平构成抑制，并且使人们难以获得安全、能负担得起的营养食品。这类政策意料之外的影响正在亚洲蔓延。泰国还在品尝其扭曲市场的大米补贴政策带来的苦果，这一政策令该国产粮食在国际市场上失去竞争力。30年来泰国首次不再是全球最大的大米出口国。
One of the less effective food policy choices for any country is pursuit of food self-sufficiency. The perils of this approach can be seen in Indonesia. Jakarta's efforts to block and limit live cattle and packaged beef imports to spur local production resulted in dramatically lower supplies on store shelves and prices that were more than double those in Malaysia and Thailand.
对任何国家来说都不会起到太大作用的食品政策之一是追求自给自足。这种方法的风险在印尼有所体现。印尼政府原本希望通过阻止和限制活畜及包装牛肉进口来刺激本地产量，但结果导致相关食品在商店的供应大幅下降，推动价格达到马来西亚和泰国的两倍多。
Asia should not attempt to be totally food self-sufficient. More than half of the world's people reside in Asia, but it does not have anywhere near half of the cultivatable land. Given this fact, as well as food consumption changes that are occurring as economic progress results in higher demand for meat and dairy protein, self-sufficiency is an unsustainable path to Asian food security.
亚洲不应尝试达到完全食品自足。全球超过一半的人居住在亚洲，但可耕地面积远不到全球的一半。考虑到这一因素以及食品消费变化(经济增长导致对肉类和乳制品蛋白的需求上升)，自给自足并非通往亚洲食品安全的可持续之路。
Instead, free trade is the solution. Indonesia discovered this when, in response to its beef shortage, the government allowed more imports, leading to increased supplies and lower prices. China has met skyrocketing demand for soybean meal and soybean oil via higher soybean imports, while domestic production has remained flat. As a result, Chinese consumers enjoy a greater variety of lower-priced foods and farmers reap better returns by focusing on rice, wheat and corn.
自由贸易才是解决之道。印尼在应对牛肉短缺问题时发现了这一点，政府允许增加进口，进而导致供应上升，价格下降。通过在国内产量保持平稳之际增加大豆进口量，中国满足了对豆粕和豆油飙涨的需求。这令中国消费者获得了种类更多、价格更便宜的食品供应，农民则通过专注于大米、小麦和玉米的种植获得了更多的回报。
It's an old economic principle in action. By importing soybean crops that can be produced more cheaply and efficiently in the Americas, Chinese farmers are able to devote their land and energy to crops they are better at growing. This results in more food production, and lower prices.
起作用的是一条古老的经济原理。美国生产大豆的成本更低、效率更高，通过进口这些大豆，中国农民就能将他们的土地和精力用在他们更擅长种植的作物上。这进而推动粮食产量上升，价格下降。
There is ample scope to increase food trade. Today only about 16% of the food produced globally crosses international borders. Creating a more food-secure world requires an open, fair and non-distorting trade system to move food from areas of surplus to areas of deficit. This also reduces price volatility by eliminating local shortages that cause price spikes.
目前有足够的空间增加食品贸易。全球只有16%的食品用于跨境贸易。要想创建一个食品安全程度更高的世界，就需要有一个公开、公平而且没有被扭曲的贸易体系，来让食品从富余的地区流向短缺的地区。通过消除导致价格飙升的本地食品短缺问题，这种方法也会降低食品价格波动。
Multilateral trade agreements can help instill confidence and enable countries to resist the temptation to pursue self-sufficiency, restrict exports or overbuy when supplies are tight. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and six other economies together established the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in 2012, setting the stage for a free trade agreement in Asia. Research by the Asian Development Bank Institute shows that if the deal includes agriculture and trade with non-member states, developing Asian countries would benefit by as much as $52 billion per year in economic welfare.
多边贸易协议有助于带来信心，并使各国能够抵挡住追求自给自足、限制出口或者在供应趋紧之际过多买进的诱惑。东南亚国家联盟(Association of Southeast Asian Nations)以及其他六个经济体在2012年共同建立了“区域全面经济伙伴关系”( Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership)，为在亚洲达成一个自由贸易协议打下基础。亚洲开发银行研究所(Asian Development Bank Institute)的研究报告显示，如果这份协议包含农业和与非成员国的贸易，发展中亚洲国家每年将获得最高达520亿美元的经济福利。
Part of freer trade in agriculture will be reductions in non-tariff barriers. In particular, policy makers need to urgently address the bewildering array of scientific health and safety standards that currently impede food trade, and focus on harmonizing rules around scientific standards.
实现更自由农业贸易的措施包括降低非关税壁垒。特别是，决策者需要尽快解决令人困惑的科学健康和安全标准等目前对食品贸易构成抑制的问题，并将重心放在协调围绕科学标准的规定上。
Along with pro-trade policies, there is also scope to improve the mechanics of the food trade. Greater public and private investment in supply-chain improvements are crucial to ensure food gets to where it's needed. In some countries, such as India, food wasted in post-harvest losses along the supply chain can reach as high as 40%.
除了亲贸易政策，目前还有改进食品贸易机制的空间。扩大公共和私人投资，以改善供应链，这对于确保食品可以流向那些有需要的地方至关重要。在印度等一些国家，粮食收获后在供应链中出现的损失高达40%。
Free trade is fundamental to food security, but equally important is revenue certainty for farmers. Farmers need access to reliable markets, fair and transparent pricing, and safety nets like crop insurance. Smallholder farmers often are forced to sell at harvest when they are cash-flow destitute and have limited access to real credit, which creates a cycle of discouraging further production. With the FAO estimating a 70% boost in agricultural productivity will be needed to feed the world by 2050, farmers need the incentive to produce.
自由贸易是食品安全的基础，但保障农民收入同样重要。农民需要可靠的市场、公平且透明的定价以及农作物保险等安全网。小农户通常都是在缺钱并且难以获得信贷的情况下被迫在收割后出售粮食，这产生了一个抑制进一步生产的循环。联合国粮农组织估计，到2050年，农业生产力需提高70%，才能满足全球的粮食需求。农民需要生产的动力。
A food-secure Asia is possible, but only if governments work together to create thoughtful policies and only if open trade prevails.
在亚洲实现食品安全是有可能的，但前提是政府共同制定出考虑周全的政策，并且自由贸易能够在这个地区遍地开花。
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