| 短信可能为非洲农民带来收入-2 DOROTHY QUAYE : I am Dorothy Quaye. I am 48 years old and a trader for about 18 years. I deal in vegetables, tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, etcetera . 桃乐茜·奎伊：我是桃乐茜·奎伊，今年 48 岁，从事贸易这一行大概 18 年了。我卖的是蔬菜，有西红柿、卷心菜、胡萝卜、马铃薯等等。 She says using a cell phone to improve her business came easily. 她说用手机做生意很容易。 DOROTHY QUAYE : Let us say I sell maize, maize whites. So I am in need of maize whites. I just use my mobile phone that I have to send my message through my phone, that I am in need of maize whites, and then send the message. Then for about five or some seconds I get the reply back, and even the price and who to contact. So before I am searching to go to buy the goods, everything is ready for me. 桃乐茜·奎伊：这么说吧，我卖的是玉米，白玉米。所以我需要白玉米。我只需用手机编一条短信告诉对方我需要白玉米，然后再把它发出去。大概五秒钟或几秒钟后我就收到回复，回复中甚至已经包括了价格和联系人。所以，在我准备去购货之前，一切都已经为我准备好了。 To expand this business model, an economics professor, Edward Kutsoati, says obviously, widespread illiteracy, will be a problem. 经济学教授爱德华·库茨欧悌说，很显然，要发展这种商业模式的话，众多的文盲将是个问题。 EDWARD KUTSOATI : Reading, writing, education is the key, is the bedrock for any economy, to move on from one level to the next. In the time being, it would be a constraint to the growth of this particular product. I have relatives back in the village that I wish I could send them text messages, but they are unable to read, they are unable to text message themselves and that would be a constraint. 爱德华·库茨欧悌：阅读、写作，教育是关键，是经济从一个水平发展到另一个水平的根基所在。当前，这个问题是发展这种特殊产品的瓶颈。我有亲戚在乡下，我真希望我能给他们发信息，但是他们不识字，也不能自己编辑信息，那是个约束。 But Davies says he has an idea for that problem. 但是大卫说他有办法来解决这个问题。 MARK DAVIES : We are looking to set up traders of information, young people, comfortable with technology, helping farmers sell their produce or buy produce and that is the way we see this dissemination of information early on, through proxies and through trade agents as we call them. 马克·大卫：我们正想建立一个信息商人团体，让那些对技术得心应手的年轻人通过代理服务或商业代理来帮助农民购买和销售产品，这就是我们早期所说的信息分发。 Other problems include a lack of mobile phone coverage in many parts of rural areas. 其他的问题还包括在很多农村地区手机没有普及。 Kutsoati says the help of the public sector may be needed to improve that situation. 库茨欧悌说为了改善那种情况，公共部门的协助可能很有必要。 EDWARD KUTSOATI : The potential is there. It is really difficult to assess the risk. This is why maybe a public-private venture becomes very critical because it tends to share the risk between the private sector and public sector. 爱德华·库茨欧悌：当然这有潜在的问题。要评定这个计划的风险系数实在很困难。因为它的风险可能需要私营部门和公共部门两者一起承担，这就是为什么公共－私营投资变得非常关键的原因。 Other major challenges will be for more farmers to know about the product, and to guarantee the reliability of users. 还有一个主要的挑战是要让更多的农民了解产品的状况，以及保证货物的可靠性。 Economists say turning cell phone beeps into money in the pockets of African farmers could be an economic miracle if it worked on a large scale, but well worth the effort. 经济学家们说，如果这个计划能在大范围内使用的话，把手机变成非洲农民口袋里的钱将是个经济奇迹，为此值得付出努力。 |
