印度糧倉不足 或造成大量儲糧浪費

India expects a record harvest of rice and wheat, but officials have warned that huge food stocks could be wasted due to lack of adequate storage facilities. The government has been criticized for holding on to huge surpluses while millions of people go hungry.

印度的水稻和小麥預計會出現創記錄的豐收，但是有關官員警告說，大量儲糧可能由於存儲設施缺乏而被浪費。印度民衆批評政府在數百萬人捱餓的情況下還把持大量盈餘糧食不放。

By the end of June, farmers across India will have harvested more than 250 million tons of wheat and rice. The bumper crops should be cause for cheer. Instead the country is confronting a challenge of plenty.

到六月底，印度各地農民將收穫超過2億5000萬噸水稻和小麥。莊稼豐收本應歡慶，但印度卻因糧食過多而面臨挑戰。

The Food Corporation of India - which stores the grain - has told the Food Ministry that it has neither the warehouse capacity nor the manpower to manage the increase.

儲存穀物的印度糧食公司告訴印度糧食部，他們既沒有倉庫也沒有人力資源來管理增產的糧食。

Every year, the government purchases millions of tons of grain from farmers to ensure they get a good price, for use in food subsidy programs, and to maintain an emergency stockpile.

印度政府每年都從農民手中購買數百萬噸的糧食，來保證農民能賣得好價錢。這些糧食用於食品補貼項目，同時政府也能儲備應急糧食。

Officials say this year’s record production could leave the government with 75 million tons of grain on its hands. With facilities only to store 63 million tons in state-run warehouses, millions of tons could be left out in the open, vulnerable to rain and attacks by rodents, or stored in makeshift spaces, covered by waterproof sheets.

有關官員說，今年創紀錄的收成可能會令政府手中擁有7500噸穀物。由於印度國有糧食儲存倉庫僅能容納6300萬噸糧食，因此數百萬噸糧食可能不得不露天存放。這些糧食很容易遭到雨水和老鼠等動物的侵害。也有一些糧食或者被存放在臨時地點，用防水布覆蓋。

Food Minister K.V. Thomas says the government is taking steps to reduce the huge stockpiles and make space for the new harvest. It has allowed traders to export surpluses and will lease warehouses for one year to expand capacity. But Thomas admits that dealing with the surplus is a big challenge.

印度糧食部長托馬斯告訴美國之音，印度政府正在採取措施減少巨大的糧食儲備，爲新收穫的糧食騰出糧倉。政府將允許商人出口盈餘的糧食，並將租賃一年的倉庫來加大儲備量。但是托馬斯承認，處理糧食盈餘是個巨大的挑戰。

“We should understand we are handling 70-71 million tons. It is just like a war-like situation. You have to procure," explained Thomas. "You have to store. You have to transport. And India is such a huge country. This is not an easy job we are doing. ”

他說：“我們要知道我們是在處理7000多萬噸的糧食，這就像一場戰爭。你必須收購，你必須儲藏，你還必須運輸。印度幅員遼闊，這對我們來說不是件容易的事。”

Minister Thomas says they are also investing in modern food storage infrastructure. But he says that while food grain production has soared in the last two years, new warehouses are coming up more slowly because “they cannot be built in a day.”

托馬斯說，政府也在投資建造現代糧食儲備設施。但他說，過去兩年印度糧食收成急劇增加，但新倉庫的建設卻進展緩慢，因爲“它們不可能在一天之內建成”。

Activists say the problem that needs fixing is not just storage - but getting the food to some 200 million people who are malnourished. U.N. agencies say India has the largest number of hungry people in the world.

活動人士說，需要解決的問題不只是糧食儲存問題，還要解決如何向2億營養不良的民衆提供食品的問題。聯合國有關部門說，印度忍飢挨餓的人數是全世界最多的。

Biraj Patnaik, a commissioner to the Supreme Court who advises policy makers on issues relating to food security, says the problem has arisen because the government does not want to scale up the distribution of food grains to the poor.

帕特納依克是印度最高法院專員，專門向印度的政策決策者提供糧食安全方面的諮詢。他說，造成現在這種狀況的原因是政府不願意增加對貧困人口的糧食發放。He explains that just three states: Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana - grow most of India’s grain, and the food has to be transported to far flung areas.

他解釋說，印度大部分糧食來自旁遮普邦、中央邦和哈里亞納邦，糧食必須從這裏運送到遙遠的地區。

“What the government ideally ought to do is distribute it to the people who deserve the food grain to the poorest of the poor," Patnaik said. "In the short run, you need to increase the food subsidy in order to make this distribution happen, and the government is extremely reluctant to increase the subsidy. In my opinion it is being penny wise and pound foolish.”

帕特納依克說：“最理想的狀態是，政府應該把糧食發放給最貧窮的人。從短期來看，政府必須首先提高糧食補貼的數量，這樣才能把糧食發放給窮人，但政府非常不情願。我認爲政府這樣做其實是‘撿了芝麻，丟了西瓜’。”

The government is hoping to address such concerns. It wants to pass an ambitious law to give cheap wheat and rice to two-thirds of the country’s 1.2 Billion people. The Food Security Bill has already been introduced in parliament and will be debated by lawmakers in the coming weeks.

印度政府希望解決這些問題。政府想建立一條雄心勃勃的法律，以低價將小麥和水稻賣給全國12億人口中的三分之二。糧食安全法案已經在印度議會中提出，議員們將在未來幾周內對此進行討論。

Food Minister Thomas says if the law is passed, much of the grain will be utilized.

印度糧食部部長托馬斯說，一旦這條法案獲得通過，大部分的糧食將被有效利用。

“I am pretty confident because of the new Food Security Bill coming, it needs about 62-63 million tons of food grain, and the midday meal scheme, and the scheme for the pregnant women, so all these schemes once we implement, we need more food grains…so with these actions I think we will be able to contain a situation where there is a lot of surplus food grain in the country,” Thomas said.

他說：“我非常有信心，因爲議會將討論新的糧食安全法。這個法案需要6千2百萬到6千3百萬噸糧食，法案包括午餐計劃和孕婦計劃等。一旦這些計劃得以實施，我們將需要更多糧食。這樣我們將可以解決印度目前存在的糧食過剩問題。”

The waste of food grain has raised concerns in a country where more than 40 percent of children are underweight. Last year the Supreme Court ordered the government to supply more food grains to hungry people.

糧食浪費問題已經在印度引起關注，但是印度全國有40%的兒童體重不達標。去年，印度最高法院命令政府向得不到足夠食品的人發放更多糧食。

India grows enough food to meet the needs of its 1.2 billion people. It is estimated that about seven percent of food grains are wasted due to lack of storage space and inefficient transportation.

印度生產的糧食足以滿足全國12億人口的需求。據統計，約有7%的糧食由於缺乏儲存設施和交通運輸不暢而被浪費。