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Middle East & Africa
中东和非洲版块
Food labels
食物标签
The champagne of Benin
贝宁的“香槟”
How the sugarloaf pineapple joined the pantheon of posh nosh
糖面菠萝是如何加入到美食殿堂的
WHAT HAM is to Parma, cheese is to Caerphilly and sparkling wine is to a certain region of France, the spiky-haired sugarloaf pineapple is to Benin.
就像火腿之于帕尔玛，奶酪之于卡尔菲利，起泡酒之于法国某个地区一样，长着尖刺的糖面菠萝与贝宁也有着这样的关系。
Last year this juicy delicacy was granted the west African country's first "geographical indication" (GI), a legal label that marks out products that come from a particular region.
去年，这种美味获得了西非国家的首个“地理标志”(GI)，GI是一种标明产品来自特定地区的法律标签。
Benin's move signals a wider trend.
贝宁的举措预示着一种更广泛的趋势。
Other places have long sought special status for their fanciest fodder.
其他地方长期以来一直在为他们最精美的食物寻找独特的地位。
France and Italy have roughly 6,000 GIs each.
法国和意大利各有约6000个地理标志产品。
Africans want a slice of the action.
非洲人也想从中分一杯羹。
It could be tasty.
一定很美味。
Sales of products given GI status by the EU are worth 75bn a year ($83bn).
被欧盟授予地理标志地位的产品每年的销售额为750亿欧元(合830亿美元)。
On average foods with GI status command a 43% price premium, says a recent study.
最近的一项研究表明，拥有地理标志的食物平均有43%的溢价。
For wine, which makes up more than 50% of sales of EU-protected products, that rises to 300%.
对于葡萄酒这种占受欧盟保护产品销售额的50%以上的产品来说，溢价率可升至300%。
Benin hopes that GIs will not only sweeten its pineapple exports—the fourth biggest in west Africa—but also make its sales of cashews, shea nuts and shea butter more fruitful.
贝宁希望地理标志不仅能增加其菠萝的出口量 （菠萝是西非出口量第四大水果），还能使腰果、乳木果和乳木果油的销售成果更好。
Higher prices could make a big difference in a country where 38% of people work on farms and 45% live on less than $1.90 a day.
更高的售价可能会带来很大的不同，贝宁有38%的人在农场工作，45%的人每天生活费不足1.90美元。
Others in the region hope to benefit, too.
该地区的其他国家也希望从中受益。
Cameroon's Penja pepper was the first African product to receive the coveted label in 2013.
2013年，喀麦隆彭贾地区的辣椒是第一个获得这个令人羡慕的地理标志标签的非洲产品。
Sales of the sought-after peppercorn, which is grown in the volcanic soils of Mount Cameroon, helped stimulate a six-fold rise in local farmers' incomes.
生长在喀麦隆火山土壤中的胡椒颇受欢迎，它的销售额带动当地农民的收入增长了6倍。
It now graces the plates of Michelin-starred chefs.
如今，它为米其林星级厨师的菜肴增光添彩。
GIs have the potential to encourage farmers to band together to improve standards and earn higher prices.
地理标志有鼓励农民联合起来提高标准，赚取更高价格的潜力。
But a big challenge, says Michael Blakeney, a professor at the University of Western Australia, will be to make sure that the benefits of premium prices are passed on to farmers and are not captured by middle men, who typically have more information about markets than small-scale farmers.
但西澳大利亚大学教授迈克尔布莱克尼表示，由于中间商通常比小规模的农民掌握更多的市场信息。所以要确保溢价带来的好处能够给到农民，而不是被中间商所占据，这是一个巨大的挑战。
Moreover, competition is intensifying as more countries seek protected GIs for their own products.
不仅如此，由于越来越多的国家都在为自己的产品寻求地理标志的保护，竞争也在加剧。
Penja pepper already has rivals from Cambodia and Indonesia.
彭贾辣椒已经有了来自柬埔寨和印度尼西亚的竞争对手。
Benin's pineapples will have to battle against the likes of Huay Mon ones, which Thailand hopes to protect.
贝宁的菠萝将不得不与泰国希望保护的怀蒙凤梨等竞争。
Though surely a sugarloaf by any other name would not taste as sweet.
当然，任何其他名字的菠萝都没有贝宁菠萝那样甜。
