毕业论文外文翻译-农业风险——究农作物产量分布和农作物保险.doc

Risk in Agriculture –A Study of Crop Yield Distributions and Crop Insurance Ⅰ. Introduction Agriculture is the provider of food security and is important to the economy of any country. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization, “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” Food security is a major determinant of national security and self sufficiency in food production and is vital for any country. In India, agriculture and allied sectors employ about 60% of the total work force and account for 25% of the total GDP of the country. Since 1950, continuous improvements have occurred in irrigation, technology, application of modern agricultural practices, and availability of agricultural credit. This has been called the “green revolution” and has resulted in development of high yielding varieties. These improvements have led to significant increase in crop yield per unit area. However,, in comparison to other countries, the average yield in India is still low and is equal to 30% to 50% of the highest average yield in the world.(Wikipedia) In the US, agriculture has played an important role in the early years but its share of GDP and number of people employed has continuously decreased. According to the data compiled by the economic research service of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), in 1930 ,the agriculture sector employed 21.5%of the total work force in the US and agriculture GDP accounted for 7.7%of the total GDP of the country. But, in the year 2000, 1.9%of the total work force was employed in agriculture. In 2002, GDP of agriculture was just 0.7% of the total GDP of US (Wikipedia) Changes in commodity prices in an important factor influencing the share of agriculture associated with GDP. The prices of agricultural commodities have increased over time; however the share of agriculture as part of GDP