【導讀】作為稻米出口大國馍管，越南的稻米產(chǎn)業(yè)如今遭遇了多重危機。
Rice farming in Vietnam
越南種稻
Against the grain
反種糧
Vietnam’s farmers are growing a crop that no longer pays its way
越南農(nóng)民種稻都撈不回本啊
Jan 18th 2014 | HANOI AND CHAU DOC | From the print edition
THE prospect from Sam mountain, a rocky outcrop in southern Vietnam’s Mekong delta, is timeless. Paddy fields shine emerald. Irrigation canals reflect the sunlight like mirrors. Three times a year, farmers in surrounding towns put on their rubber boots and plant rice seedlings in the deep soil. A few months later they sell their sacks of grain to traders, who bring it to riverside mills for processing. In its essence, this activity is timeless, too.
越南南部寻歧，湄公河三角洲，巖層從地殼中突起——這是山姆山错森，這里的風景似乎亙古不變俄讹。稻田翠綠閃耀。水渠如鏡反光耀眼邑商。附近村莊的農(nóng)夫穿上膠鞋摄咆，進入田里插秧，這事一年有三回人断。數(shù)月之后吭从，農(nóng)夫?qū)⒁淮竟荣u予商人。商人帶著稻谷來到河邊的磨房恶迈，進一步加工涩金。本質(zhì)上講，這個運動也是亙古不變的暇仲。
Rice cultivation is deeply rooted in the Vietnamese psyche. In September 1945, a day after declaring Vietnam’s independence from France, Ho Chi Minh told his cabinet that dealing with a widespread failure of the rice crop was its priority. He later collectivised the paddies. In the 1980s his successors promoted hybrid seeds and modern irrigation. Today Vietnam’s $4 billion in rice exports (see chart) accounts for more than a fifth of the global total.
種稻根植在越南人的靈魂中步做。1945年9月，在宣布越南脫離法國統(tǒng)治而獨立的一天后奈附，胡志明吩咐內(nèi)閣全度，處理廣泛存在的水稻耕種危機是工作的重點。他隨后將稻田集體化斥滤。80年代他的繼任者推動了雜交水稻種植将鸵，并建設(shè)了現(xiàn)代化的灌溉系統(tǒng)。時至今日中跌，越南出口的稻米達到了40億美元【見圖表】，比全球總量的五分之一還多菇篡。
Party officials trumpet their “rice first” agricultural policies. Yet, more and more, Vietnam’s rice farmers are being left behind. Part of the problem is that Vietnamese rice strains tend to be of low or middling quality—a contrast to the premium varieties grown in Thailand. The costs of fuel, fertilisers and pesticides are rising. And Vietnam’s rice-export sector is dominated by state-owned firms with links to corrupt officials. Some farmers, especially in the country’s north, are finding it more profitable to let their land lie fallow.
黨內(nèi)官員常高呼他們的“稻米第一”農(nóng)業(yè)政策漩符。然而，越南的種稻農(nóng)民卻正越來越被忽視驱还。部分原因是越南的稻株質(zhì)量中下——尤其是相比于泰國的高級品種嗜暴。燃料化肥以及農(nóng)藥的花費正在上升凸克。越南的稻米出口部門又為國有企業(yè)把持，與腐敗的官員相勾結(jié)闷沥。有的農(nóng)民（尤其北方）發(fā)現(xiàn)讓土地閑置還能少虧點錢萎战。
In An Giang province, at the heart of the Mekong delta, an average family earns just $100 a month from cultivating rice, or about a fifth of what coffee-growers earn in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, says Oxfam, an advocacy group. Tran Van Nghia, who farms near Sam mountain, says young people in his area supplement farm incomes by working as hotel porters or construction workers in Ho Chi Minh City and other urban centres.
安江省，湄公河三角洲的腹地舆逃。牛津饑荒救濟委員會稱蚂维，這里種糧戶的家庭平均收入只有每月100美元，約為越南中央高地咖啡種植戶收入的五分之一路狮。在山姆山附近修地球的Tran Van Nghia表示虫啥，這里的年輕人要進胡志明市以及其等城市中心，做些旅館搬運工與建筑工人的活來補貼種稻的收入奄妨。
Vietnam’s rice woes are likely to worsen. Myanmar, long ago South-East Asia’s rice basket, is emerging again as an export rival. The bulk of Vietnam’s crop is sold directly to other governments, but some of its biggest clients, including Indonesia and the Philippines, are boosting domestic production. Arup Gupta, a commodities trader in Ho Chi Minh City, adds that as a consequence of a crackpot and expensive campaign in Thailand to subsidise the country’s rice farmers, Vietnam is now being undercut as Thailand unloads stockpiles at bargain-basement prices.
越南的稻米危機似乎要惡化涂籽。曾經(jīng)的東南亞稻米籃子緬甸，如今又一次成為了越南的出口對手砸抛。越南的大宗水稻是直接出售給他國政府的评雌，而諸如印尼菲律賓等大客戶如今正在推進稻米自產(chǎn)。胡志明市的商品期貨交易員Arup Gupta表示直焙，由于泰國正開展著一場瘋狂又昂貴的運動補貼稻米種戶景东，并以極低價出售糧食儲備，越南如今處境艱難箕般。
Scientists also warn that the Mekong delta, which produces about half of Vietnam’s rice, is showing signs of environmental stress. The earth dykes that were built to keep seasonal floods from inundating the rice paddies prevent the Mekong river’s alluvial floodwaters from bringing nutrients to the delta’s soil.
科學家也警告說耐薯，湄公河三角洲正顯示著遭受環(huán)境壓力的信號，而越南一半的稻米在這里生產(chǎn)丝里。用來阻擋季節(jié)性洪水侵襲稻田的防護墻曲初，同樣也把營養(yǎng)成分擋在了土地外面。
Vo-Tong Xuan, a rice expert who has advised the government on agricultural policies, reckons that many soils in Vietnam’s rice-growing regions are now so poor in nutrients that they cannot immediately be put to other uses, such as cultivating maize. Other problems, he says, include a lack of farmer representation in the powerful Vietnam Food Association, and resistance by state-owned rice exporters to reforms that would eat into their profits. It does not help that Vietnam’s new constitution, which passed in late November, calls for state-owned enterprises to keep a central role in the economy.
稻米專家Vo-Tong Xuan曾擔任政府農(nóng)業(yè)政策顧問杯聚，他認為越南稻米種植區(qū)的土地如今是如此貧瘠臼婆，無法立即轉(zhuǎn)作他用——比方說種玉米。其他的問題還有幌绍，譬如在比較有權(quán)的越南糧食協(xié)會里缺少農(nóng)民代表颁褂，而改革會損害國有糧食出口商的利益，所以遭遇阻力傀广。11月末通過的新憲法呼吁國有企業(yè)在經(jīng)濟中保持中心地位颁独，所以不會有什么幫助。
The countryside, for the most part, is a patchwork of tiny plots. The average Vietnamese rice farmer cultivates a little over an acre (0.5 hectares), when two or three hectares is the ideal plot size.
大多數(shù)地方的農(nóng)村土地是一小塊一小塊的伪冰。越南稻米種植戶人均耕地面積僅有一英畝（0.5畝）多一點誓酒，而二到三畝才是理想規(guī)模。
Still, a new land law coming into force in July will give many farmers 50-year land leases, a big improvement over the current 20 years. The longer leases may help create larger farms producing crops other than rice. Yet the government stubbornly maintains a policy of preserving about 90% of existing rice land in perpetuity.
不過，7月生效的新土地法將給予農(nóng)民50年的土地租期靠柑，相比現(xiàn)在的20年有很大提高寨辩。更長的租期有利于更大的農(nóng)場發(fā)展，來種植除稻米以外的其他作物歼冰。但政府仍固執(zhí)地要堅持永久保留90%稻田的政策靡狞。
That might make sense if Vietnam still struggled with crushing food insecurity, as it did in the early 1980s. Yet a third of its rice harvest is sold abroad—more, if unofficial exports to China are counted. Meanwhile, rice is falling as a proportion of the national diet; a rising middle class is developing a taste for meat and wheat. Next month in Ho Chi Minh City, the son-in-law of the prime minister, Nguyen Tan Dung, is scheduled to open the country’s first McDonald’s. Its local competitor, a fast-food chain whose speciality is the “VietMac”, a rice burger, has its work cut out.
如果越南仍然像80年代一樣與糧食安全相斗爭，那這種政策或許有意義隔嫡。但越南有三分之一要糧食外銷——還有更多非官方渠道出售給中國的沒算進去甸怕。而且，稻米在國內(nèi)飲食中的比重正在降低畔勤；發(fā)展中的中產(chǎn)階級需要肉與小麥蕾各。下個月，在胡志明市庆揪，總理阮晉勇的女婿將開起本國的第一家麥當勞式曲。而麥當勞的本土競爭者，一家連鎖快餐店缸榛，已經(jīng)停做了自己的招牌“VietMac”——一種米做的漢堡吝羞。
From the print edition: Asia
