VOA慢速英語:DRC Farmers Facing Theft Switch to Less Edible Crops

Form VOA learning English, this is the Agriculture report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語農(nóng)業(yè)報道。

Report says farmers in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo are protecting against crop theft in a unusual way. Aid workers say the farmers are growing crops that are less likely to be stolen.

有報告稱，剛果民主共和國東部的農(nóng)民用一種不同尋常的方式防止莊稼被盜。援助工作者表示，農(nóng)民們都在種植不太容易被竊取的莊稼。

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization regularly talks with farmers in the eastern DRC. It says in the past year, added insecurity has caused many farmers to grow crops they had not grown earlier.

聯(lián)合國糧農(nóng)組織經(jīng)常同剛果民主共和國東部的農(nóng)民交談。該組織表示，在過去一年，更多的不安全因素使得許多農(nóng)民開始種植他們以前沒種過的莊稼。

Guillaume Kahomboshi is a food security expert with the FAO in Goma. He says the peasants are struck by the way that wars here always seem to break out at harvest time. They are thinking the wars maybe just an excuse to steal their crops.

Guillaume Kahomboshi是糧農(nóng)組織駐戈馬市的糧食安全專家。他表示，農(nóng)民們震驚于這里的戰(zhàn)爭總在收獲季節(jié)爆發(fā)。他們在想，戰(zhàn)爭也許只是竊取他們莊稼的借口。

Mr Kahomboshi says many poor farmers are changing the kinds of crops they grow to try to reduce the threat that their crops will be stolen. For example,he knows that most of the people in a territory near Uganda are starting to grow soya.

Kahomboshi先生表示，許多貧困農(nóng)民在改變他們種植的莊稼，以圖減少其莊稼被竊取的風(fēng)險。例如他獲悉烏干達(dá)附近某地區(qū)的大多數(shù)農(nóng)民都開始種植大豆。

The territory is called Rutshuru. Mr Kahomboshi suggests this is because soya is not pleasant to eat until it has been dried and milled. He says the armed groups want food that is ready to eat. In addition, there is good demand for soya in Uganda, where it is milled and then used as an ingredient in biscuits and other processed foods.

這個地區(qū)就是魯丘魯市。Kahomboshi先生暗示，這是因為大豆在曬干和研磨前沒法吃。他說，武裝組織想要直接能吃的食物。另外，烏干達(dá)對大豆有需求，大豆在這里被研磨，然后被用作餅干和其它加工食品的原料。

Kahomboshi tells VOA that farmers in Masisi, another war-stricken territory west of Rutshuru, are switching to growing cassava.

Kahomboshi對美國之音表示，魯丘魯市西部另一個飽受戰(zhàn)火蹂躪的地區(qū)馬西西市都開始改種木薯。

Franck Muke is an agronomist at Goma University. He agrees soya is less likely to be stolen, but he's not so sure about cassava, known as manioc in Congo.

Franck Muke是戈馬大學(xué)的農(nóng)學(xué)家。他認(rèn)同大豆被竊取的可能性更低，但他對木薯不確定，它也被稱為剛果木薯。

He says cassava is more of a risk because it is a staple food, and he has noticed that although cassava is not easy to pilfer, because it has to be uprooted and then dried and milled, it is often quickly pillaged.

他說木薯風(fēng)險更大，因為它是一種主食。而且他注意到，雖然木薯不容易被盜，因為它需要被連根拔起然后曬干研磨。但它經(jīng)常被快速掠奪。

However, the non-governmental organization Concern, which spoke with people in villages affected by ethnic conflict in Masisi, reported less theft of cassava than of other crops.

然而，經(jīng)常同馬西西市受種族沖突影響的村莊交流的非政府組織Concern報告稱木薯被盜少于其它莊稼。

Years of war and ethnic conflict in parts of eastern Congo have divided communities, this means villagers' crops are as likely to be stolen by their neighbors as by the armed groups.

剛果東部地區(qū)多年的戰(zhàn)爭和種族沖突使得社區(qū)分化。這意味著村民的莊稼除了被武裝組織，還可能被鄰居竊取。