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World Food Day 2007
2007年世界粮食日
Hello. I'm Ruby Jones.
AndI'm Marina Santee. Welcome to Spotlight. This programme uses a special Englishmethod of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter wherein the world they live.
Morethan eight hundred and fifty million people in the world do not have enough toeat.
Hunger and poverty claim twenty five thousand lives every day.
Thesereports are from the World Food Programme. There was a time when such factsshocked people. But today, many people know the facts of world hunger. They maynot have experienced serious hunger themselves. But they hear many reports withnumbers and facts. There are reports about new policies and papers to end worldhunger. There are aid groups asking for money. Food aid comes and disappears inneedy countries. Problems remain. Many people ask what they can really do. Intoday's Spotlight we look at some people who answered this question in theircommunities.
Babybirds - chicks - move around the dusty ground. Young girls bend down to feedthe little birds. The team of young girls and their chicks offer hope to thisvillage. The village is one of many suffering in Burundi. Political conflictand civil war have had tragic effects on the local people. Many people livewithout enough food each day.
Sohow do chicks offer hope in such tragedy? Well, the chicks are part of adevelopment project. TeleFood supplied the chicks to the village. Telefood ispart of the FAO - the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization. The FAO launchedTelefood in 1997. The group gives money to small 'sustainable' projects.Sustainable projects are projects that help people to help themselves. Suchprojects do not simply give 'aid.'
Fortwo small villages in Burundi, the sustainable help came in the form of chicks- one thousand of them! Telefood gave the chicks to one hundred girls. Thechicks will grow in size and number. Then the whole community will be able tobuy eggs and chickens at reasonable prices. Telefood also provided thenecessary materials to grow fruit and vegetables. This helps the communitybecause many Burundi farmers lack even the seeds to put crops in their fields.
Still, it will not be easy. The girls with the chickens live in poorconditions. They work all day with little to eat. However, their birds providea hope for the future. And it is a future that the young women of Burundi arecreating!
Small projects like these are called, 'microprojects'. Telefood has helped setup over one thousand microprojects around the world. Many of the projects areaimed at women. Supporting women is one of TeleFood's major aims. The groupsays that in far out, poor, areas, women are the main providers of food. Ifwomen have money, they will use much of it to buy food for their families. Meetsome more of the women Telefood has supported.
Editworks in her local market. She is one of a group of women who sell fish inBurkina Faso, West Africa. It can get very hot in Edit's hometown ofOuagadougou. During the dry season, temperatures reach up to forty or fiftydegrees. The heat makes conditions difficult for Edit and the other fishsellers. They struggle to keep their fish fresh. But if it is not fresh, peopledo not want to buy it. So the women have to sell their fish at reduced prices.Then they do not have a good amount of money to take home to their families.However, now their situation has improved. Telefood gave money to the women inOuagadougou to buy some ice boxes, and it provided freezers. Edit and herfriends can now freeze their fish, and carry it in these boxes. This meanspeople can buy the freshest fish possible. And fewer fish are left as waste atthe end of the day.
People who have less often take greater care of what they do have. That is whyEdit and the other fish sellers are so pleased with their ice boxes. Keepingfood fresh is important in a country like Burkina Faso. Fresh produce there isoften in short supply. Thinking about how to store food seems like a simpleidea. But it can mean the difference between having plenty and having nothing.Storing food and keeping it fresh is an issue for everyone - from leaders ofgovernment to mothers and fathers at home. Food experts say that every yearpeople waste millions of tonnes of food. Waste can happen in several ways:
During transport of food to markets and stores.
Iffood is stored at the wrong temperature;
Iffood is stored in the wrong containers. This permits insects and harmfulbacteria to infect the food.
Government officials especially need to consider these matters carefully. Theyneed to examine every step of the food production process in their country. Andthey need to act to reduce the causes of food waste. But food waste is a matterthat we can think about too. What steps do we take to avoid wasting food? Isthere anything we need to change to prevent unnecessary waste?
Besure the food you buy looks fresh and well kept. Take it home quickly, keepingit cool. At home, use good containers to store your food. Do not store food onthe floor. Keep food in a cool place. If you have a refrigerator, make surethat the temperature is correct. Then you can use the food before it goes bad.
Whenyou go to buy food, make a list of what you need. Only buy what you will use.Then you should avoid having waste food left over.
Simple steps may not seem much. But they can make a difference. Lowering theworld's food wastage increases the world's supply. And this helps more peopleto have food. The right to food is something everyone should have.
'Theright to food' is the message behind World Food Day 2007. World Food day is onOctober the sixteenth every year. This day marks the beginning of the formationof the FAO in 1981. Barbara Ekwell is chief of the 'Right to Food' departmentof the F A O. She said,
"The right to food is not an impossible dream. It can be a reality forall. Some countries are on the way to doing this. But everyone should help tomake this happen."
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