VOA慢速英語:Diseases of Cassava Wreak Havoc in Africa

From 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。

Cassava is an important crop in some countries. More than 160 million people across Africa depend on the plant for food or to earn money. The continent produces 60 percent of the world's cassava crop. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported last May that cassava production has increased by 60 percent worldwide since 2000.

木薯在一些國家是一種重要的農(nóng)作物。非洲各地有超過1600萬人以此為食或謀生。非洲大陸出產(chǎn)了全球60%的木薯。聯(lián)合國糧食和農(nóng)業(yè)組織去年5月報告稱，自2000年以來木薯產(chǎn)量增長了60%。

Agricultural experts had been expecting it to grow even more during the next ten years as policy makers begin to understand the crop better, but those expectations have benn crashed. The amount of cassava being grown in east and central Africa is falling because of diseases that reduce production.

農(nóng)業(yè)專家一直期待隨著決策者更了解木薯，從而在未來十年種植更多。但這些期望都破滅了。因為一些會降低產(chǎn)量的疾病，非洲東部和中部的木薯種植面積銳減。

Two such diseases of the cassava brown streak virus and cassava mosaic virus, they are wrecking Africa's agricultural lands. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization says, brown streak disease does more damage since it affects the root of the crop.

木薯褐色條紋病毒和木薯花葉病毒的兩種疾病正在破壞非洲的農(nóng)業(yè)用地。聯(lián)合國糧食和農(nóng)業(yè)組織表示，褐色條斑病造成的損害更大，因為它會影響作物的根系。

Luca Alinovi is the acting director of the FAO in eastern and central Africa. He says the agency has taken steps to improve the situation, but it is not getting better.

盧卡(Luca Alinovi)是糧農(nóng)組織駐非洲中東部地區(qū)的代主任。他說，該機構已經(jīng)采取了改善措施，但情況并未好轉。

"Doing right or wrong on cassava has a huge impact on the food security of the people in this region, has such a relevance in our daily lives that we tend to forget it because it appeared in a kind of technical discussion. And I want to bring to your attention that, although it is a technical issue it requires knowledge and requires research."

他說，“木薯問題對該地區(qū)人民的糧食安全有著巨大影響，和我們的日常生活息息相關。我們往往忽視這點，因為它都出現(xiàn)在一些技術討論中。我想提請大家注意的是，雖然這是一個技術問題，它也需要知識和研究。”

Dominique Davoux heads the European Union Rural Development and Agricultural program in Kenya. He says the cassava diseases have changed over the years, he says there is need to invest in research to fight the diseases.

多米尼克(Dominique Davoux)負責歐盟駐肯尼亞農(nóng)村發(fā)展和農(nóng)業(yè)項目。他表示，木薯疾病多年來已經(jīng)有所改變，有必要在抗病研究上投資。

"We supported the cassava initially, there has been [a] stop in the support, the research slugged [lagged] behind, and the disease reinvented itself [and] propagated again. We have to re-address the issue."

他說，“我們一開始支持過木薯，中間一度暫停支持，在木薯上研究有點滯后，而且木薯疾病已經(jīng)自我進化并再次傳播。我們不得不重新解決這一問題。”

The FAO says at least $100 million is needed. Some of the money would go to support clean farm production, collect information and study the diseases. The rest will go to market and micro-finance development across the cassava production chain.

糧農(nóng)組織表示，至少需要1億美元。其中一些資金將用于支持農(nóng)業(yè)清潔生產(chǎn)，收集信息和研究疾病。剩余資金將用于木薯生產(chǎn)鏈上的市場和微金融發(fā)展。

Experts say failure to do so means the cassava disease will likely invade Nigeria, the biggest producer of cassava in Africa.

專家表示，如果未能做到這些，就意味著木薯疾病可能會入侵尼日利亞這個非洲最大的木薯出產(chǎn)國。