比尔-盖茨：中国农业创新助力发展

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，我正在读中学，当时保罗・埃利希的《人口爆炸》一书影响很大。这本书的开头是这样写的：“让全人类吃饱的努力已经失败，70年代将有亿万人因饥饿丧生，现在启动任何速成项目都无济于事，世界人口死亡率大幅上升已成定局……”虽然当时我对农业知之甚少，但也惊诧于人类面临的巨大挑战，并对人类能否避免这一厄运担忧不止。

幸运的是，这个可怕的预言失败了。很大程度上我们要感谢世界上几位农业天才的创新。美国的诺曼・博罗格和中国的袁隆平等农业科学家，研发出了新品种的小麦、水稻以及玉米，并由此在20世纪引发了一场“绿色革命”。这场革命在世界范围内帮助农民将粮食产量提高了两到三倍。

然而,“绿色革命”的成果并没有惠及世界的每一个角落。非洲的粮食亩产量迄今仍然在低位徘徊，气候变化导致热带地区洪涝灾害和极端干旱频频发生，给当地的粮食生产雪上加霜。今天，世界上有超过10亿人仍在饥饿与贫困中挣扎。盖茨基金会一直在寻找能将一场新的“绿色革命”引入非洲的创新方法。

中国是我们在农业领域的重要合作伙伴之一。中国不但在帮助本国农民提高粮食产量、脱贫致富方面有丰富经验，而且在水稻现代育种方面处于世界领先地位。我们正在与中国农业科学院进行“绿色超级稻”的研发合作。这种新型水稻品种对于化肥和水资源的依赖性相对较少，目前已经引进到一些非洲和南亚国家进行试点。当地的小农户已经通过“绿色超级稻”实现了增产20%的目标。一位从试验田考察回来的同事说，她曾看到当地农民在丰收后手捧稻谷，激动地说，“这简直是来自上天的礼物！”而科研工作者知道，这是中国农业创新带给世界的礼物。

除了先进的稻种科技，中国的基因测序技术也可能帮助世界。由中国科学家领导的基因测序技术，对于帮助大幅提高粮食产量深具潜力。想象一下，在一个大型公共图书馆中，我们过去要使用卡片目录在浩如烟海的图书中找到相关文献，然后再一页一页寻找我们需要的信息。如今，我们可以直接而精确地了解到所需要的信息在哪本书的哪一页。这就是神奇的基因测序技术，它可以显著提高植物育种的速度。通过与中国顶尖科学家们的合作，我们非常期待全世界最贫困的人们可以受益于这些神奇的技术。

我对与中国合作充满希望，期待中国的创新技术成为非洲发展的重要助力，让非洲人民过上健康而富有成效的生活。