时间:2019-01-13 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2012年(九月)


英语课

 



East African Farmers Plant Seeds of Innovation


East Africa has felt the effects of climate change over recent years. There have been frequent prolonged droughts, erratic 1 seasonal 2 rains and floods, all of which have put food security at risk. As a result, regional farmers have taken the initiative to begin innovative 3 agricultural methods.


Agricultural economist 4 Patti Kristjanson said East African farmers are aware of the extremes of climate change. But the driving factor behind their innovations is to ensure there’s enough to eat.


“When you find out in a country like Kenya that a huge percentage of households are still struggling to feed their family from any source at all – from markets, from food aid, from their own farms, from any source for several months a year, you have to say, oh my goodness. So what they’re thinking about is how am I going to get through this next season, this next month, maybe this next week and feed my family? That’s what they’re thinking,” she said.


Kristjanson took part in a study by CGIAR’s Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security.


“I’ve been working with farmers across Africa for 25 years now and they’ve always been making changes and trying different things and testing new approaches and switching what they do and trying new crops, for example, or new varieties,” she said.


A survey was done of East African farmers, without specifically asking them how they’re adapting to climate change.


“We were asking about the whole range of what they’re doing with their crops, with their livestock 5, with their soil management, with water management, with trees on farms. And basically the way all these households were asked the question was tell us about the changes you’ve been making and then tell us why you made those changes,” she said.


The survey found that more than half were using varieties of crops with shorter growth cycles, including drought resistant 6 crops. This helps farmers adapt to heat and water scarcity 7. Also, half of the farmers planted trees to stop erosion and increase water and soil quality. The trees led to yields of coffee, tea, energy and medicinal products. Also, 50 percent of the farmers used intercropping or alternating different plants in the same plot.


“So they might be doing it because markets are changing and because there are more people around and because there are more opportunities. They may be making these changes driven by prices for example. What that means is they’re still going to be in a better position to deal with the change in climate when it hits them,” she said.


Kristjanson said these farmers often take great risks in changing to crops they may have never grown before. She said that while farmers are using innovative techniques, they could still be using even more.


“If you think about climate change in the sense that water is going to become more of an issue – increased variability and more frequent extreme events – we would like to see much more transformational changes in the sense that they start storing water. Whereas very few of them are currently storing any kind of agricultural water and they’re not even storing household water,” she said.


What’s more, the study recommends further soil enhancement through terracing, planting hedges, mulching and the use of manure 8.


Kristjanson said East African farmers are learning about new agricultural methods through programs provided over cell phones, radio and TV. There’s even a popular TV reality show in Kenya where experts choose a small farm and modernize 9 it – similar to home remodeling shows in the United States and elsewhere.




adj.古怪的,反复无常的,不稳定的
  • The old man had always been cranky and erratic.那老头儿性情古怪,反复无常。
  • The erratic fluctuation of market prices is in consequence of unstable economy.经济波动致使市场物价忽起忽落。
adj.季节的,季节性的
  • The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
  • The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。
adj.革新的,新颖的,富有革新精神的
  • Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
  • He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。
n.经济学家,经济专家,节俭的人
  • He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
  • He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家,自以为什么都懂。
n.家畜,牲畜
  • Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
  • The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。
adj.(to)抵抗的,有抵抗力的
  • Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
  • They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。
n.缺乏,不足,萧条
  • The scarcity of skilled workers is worrying the government.熟练工人的缺乏困扰着政府。
  • The scarcity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果供不应求是由于干旱造成的。
n.粪,肥,肥粒;vt.施肥
  • The farmers were distributing manure over the field.农民们正在田间施肥。
  • The farmers used manure to keep up the fertility of their land.农夫们用粪保持其土质的肥沃。
vt.使现代化,使适应现代的需要
  • It was their manifest failure to modernize the country's industries.他们使国家进行工业现代化,明显失败了。
  • There is a pressing need to modernise our electoral system.我们的选举制度迫切需要现代化。
学英语单词
-menia
air voids
anaciaeschna martini
and-answer
annual maintenance for a patent application
avertedly
bale burst
basic deviation
BCD (burst cartridge detection)
be the most
brephoplastic graft
British South American Airways
Brythons
calendar progress chart
cardiocairography
CBIR
chriso-aristocracies
cobaglobin
collator
control flow monitoring
copper materials/devices
crossflow planes
crystallogy
D.R.I.
deoxidized
distancingly
eight-ship
electric gathering locomotive
electro luminescent tape
electrocardiograms
ellenberger
erythro salt
exchange fraction
exo-
faqueer
fifth-year
floating exchange system
front page news
functional agility
GEMSA
haplome
heat loading
Hecatonchires
Hodorf
how's it hanging?
inductive data analysis
Involutisporonites
isoammodendrine
kilengi
la crescenta-montrose
lagging sector
lateral cerebralsulcus
ligachev
limonia (dicranomyia) puncticosta
lindy
megalourethra
message format service control block
mon-thu
myxoepithelioma psammosum
n.r.a.s.
negative
nitrosophenyldimethylpyrazole
noise equivalent resistance
nondyslexics
Nucodorsal
octagonal hammer
organelle (pl. organella)
overrented
paper tape chemical analyzer
papulous
para-infection
parakeratosis brillante
pascal (pa)
Petimin
piston type flowmeter
PO4
polaile
prolegomenously
pulse tail
purchase with credit
radical of a vector lattice
radiomimetic agent
rain-print
rectilinear motion
relative error of the frequency
rtmas
sagaciated
self-regulating mass transfer system
single line ground
single-column vertical lathe
sliver knitting machine
sod layer
supply chain sustainability
tape-decks
Tapolca
thu-sun
trevers
unit transformation
Vargem Grande
Venice treacle
Web-based
wrist-spin