比爾 蓋茨：中國農業創新助力發展

In 1968, when I was in high school, a book titled The Population Bomb was published. The author, Paul Erlich, began the book with this statement: "The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now. At this late date nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate" I knew very little about farming then, but was frightened by the vision and wondered if anyone could prevent this future state.

Fortunately, due in large part to the individual dynamism and genius of a man named Norman Borlaug, this dire prediction did not come true. Borlaug, along with Yuan Longping and other researchers, identified new seed varieties for rice, wheat and maize, launching the "Green Revolution" in the 1960s that helped farmers double and triple their yields around the world.

But the benefits of the Green Revolution didn't reach every region of the world; yields in Africa are still dismally low and farmers continue to face tough conditions to grow their crops. Climate change has contributed to an increase in droughts and floods in tropical regions, which is a huge challenge for smallholder farmers living there.

Today, almost a billion people are affected by severe hunger and poverty. It is a horrible irony that so many of those who go to bed hungry are the same people growing and harvesting food. But poor farmers are not the problem to be fixed, they are the solution.

At our foundation, we put the smallholder farmer at the center of our work, we believe by listening to their needs and understanding the crops they want to grow, the food they want to eat, we will make the right investments and find the best innovations to help drive a new Green Revolution in Africa.

China is one of our key partners, with rich experience and deep expertise in agriculture, which can help accelerate progress in poor countries. China is also a world leader in rice breeding.

We are thrilled to be partnering with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences to develop a series of new rice varieties, Green Super Rice. The new rice varieties will mean farmers have to use less inputs - so they don't need to rely as much on fertilizer and water. Green Super Rice has been introduced to some African and Asian countries for early trials. In some pilot countries, it has helped smallholder farmers increase production by 20 percent. The next step is to share China's promising results with other poor countries, and help farming families increase productivity in an affordable and sustainable way.

The innovations in gene sequencing, led by Chinese scientists at the Beijing Genome Institute, could also lead to dramatic productivity gains. Historically, it would take years for crop breeders to find and cross breed the right combination of seed variants to deliver higher yielding seed varieties. Now, however, scientists can sequence the genomes of thousands of plants and use computer algorithms to predict which combinations will work best, greatly simplifying and accelerating this process and the potential gains for farmers.

Imagine the analogy of a large public library with rooms full of books. We used to have to use the card catalogue and browse through the books to find the information we needed. Now we know the precise page that contains the piece of information we need. In the same way, we can find out precisely which plant contains a gene conferring a specific characteristic.

It is exciting to be partnering with BGI in this initiative, working with some of the best scientists, and the best technology to drive progress for the poorest people in the world.

Beyond agricultural innovation, China has rich experience and significant potential in bio-gas, vaccine R&D and manufacture, and medicine research, which are critical for helping the poorest in Africa to alleviate poverty and live productive lives. We are pleased to cooperate with the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology to co-invest in these innovative programs for the poorest in Africa and around the world.1968年，我正在讀中學，當時保羅・埃利希的《人口爆炸》一書影響很大。這本書的開頭是這樣寫的：“讓全人類吃飽的努力已經失敗，70年代將有億萬人因飢餓喪生，現在啓動任何速成項目都無濟於事，世界人口死亡率大幅上升已成定局……”雖然當時我對農業知之甚少，但也驚詫於人類面臨的巨大挑戰，並對人類能否避免這一厄運擔憂不止。

幸運的是，這個可怕的預言失敗了。很大程度上我們要感謝世界上幾位農業天才的創新。美國的諾曼・博羅格和中國的袁隆平等農業科學家，研發出了新品種的小麥、水稻以及玉米，並由此在20世紀引發了一場“綠色革命”。這場革命在世界範圍內幫助農民將糧食產量提高了兩到三倍。

然而,“綠色革命”的成果並沒有惠及世界的每一個角落。非洲的糧食畝產量迄今仍然在低位徘徊，氣候變化導致熱帶地區洪澇災害和極端乾旱頻頻發生，給當地的糧食生產雪上加霜。今天，世界上有超過10億人仍在飢餓與貧困中掙扎。蓋茨基金會一直在尋找能將一場新的“綠色革命”引入非洲的創新方法。

中國是我們在農業領域的重要合作伙伴之一。中國不但在幫助本國農民提高糧食產量、脫貧致富方面有豐富經驗，而且在水稻現代育種方面處於世界領先地位。我們正在與中國農業科學院進行“綠色超級稻”的研發合作。這種新型水稻品種對於化肥和水資源的依賴性相對較少，目前已經引進到一些非洲和南亞國家進行試點。當地的小農戶已經通過“綠色超級稻”實現了增產20%的目標。一位從試驗田考察回來的同事說，她曾看到當地農民在豐收後手捧稻穀，激動地說，“這簡直是來自上天的禮物！”而科研工作者知道，這是中國農業創新帶給世界的禮物。

除了先進的稻種科技，中國的基因測序技術也可能幫助世界。由中國科學家領導的基因測序技術，對於幫助大幅提高糧食產量深具潛力。想象一下，在一個大型公共圖書館中，我們過去要使用卡片目錄在浩如煙海的圖書中找到相關文獻，然後再一頁一頁尋找我們需要的信息。如今，我們可以直接而精確地瞭解到所需要的信息在哪本書的哪一頁。這就是神奇的基因測序技術，它可以顯著提高植物育種的速度。通過與中國頂尖科學家們的合作，我們非常期待全世界最貧困的人們可以受益於這些神奇的技術。

我對與中國合作充滿希望，期待中國的創新技術成爲非洲發展的重要助力，讓非洲人民過上健康而富有成效的生活。