Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Development Studies, emeritus, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
J Nutr. 2010 Jan;140(1):224S-8S. doi: 10.3945/jn.109.110379. Epub 2009 Nov 18.
A food crisis occurs when rates of hunger and malnutrition rise sharply at local, national, or global levels. This definition distinguishes a food crisis from chronic hunger, although food crises are far more likely among populations already suffering from prolonged hunger and malnutrition. A food crisis is usually set off by a shock to either supply or demand for food and often involves a sudden spike in food prices. It is important to remember that in a market economy, food prices measure the scarcity of food, not its value in any nutritional sense. Except in rare circumstances, the straightforward way to prevent a food crisis is to have rapidly rising labor productivity through economic growth and keep food prices stable while maintaining access by the poor. The formula is easier to state than to implement, especially on a global scale, but it is good to have both the objective, reducing short-run spikes in hunger, and the deep mechanisms, pro-poor economic growth and stable food prices, clearly in mind. A coherent food policy seeks to use these mechanisms, and others, to achieve a sustained reduction in chronic hunger over the long run while preventing spikes in hunger in the short run.
当饥饿和营养不良的发生率在地方、国家或全球层面急剧上升时，就会发生粮食危机。这一定义将粮食危机与慢性饥饿区分开来，尽管在已经长期遭受饥饿和营养不良的人群中，粮食危机更有可能发生。粮食危机通常是由粮食供应或需求的冲击引起的，通常伴随着粮食价格的突然飙升。重要的是要记住，在市场经济中，粮食价格衡量的是粮食的稀缺性，而不是其在任何营养意义上的价值。除了在极少数情况下，通过经济增长来提高劳动力生产力并保持粮食价格稳定，同时确保贫困人口获得粮食，是预防粮食危机的直接方法。这个公式说起来容易做起来难，尤其是在全球范围内，但明确目标（减少短期饥饿高峰）和深层机制（有利于穷人的经济增长和稳定的粮食价格）都牢记在心是很好的。一个连贯的粮食政策旨在利用这些机制和其他机制，长期持续减少慢性饥饿，同时防止短期饥饿高峰。
