VOA慢速英语2010年-Agriculture Report - In Kenya, Low-Cos

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Weather does not discriminate¹ between large and small farms. If it rains too much or too little, crop insurance can pay for losses. Yet insurance usually costs too much for a farmer with as little as a hectare or two of land.

But now a program called Kilimo Salama, or safe farming, offers low-cost insurance in parts of Kenya. The program is offered by the Syngenta Foundation, established by the Swiss agricultural-chemical maker² Syngenta. Farmers register at businesses taking part in the program and receive a policy number through their mobile phone.

Every time the farmers buy seeds, fertilizer or other inputs³, they pay an extra five percent in addition to the price. This extra cost is the insurance premium⁴. The farmers are paid back for the inputs if their crops fail because of drought or flood.

The program is designed for maize⁵ and wheat farmers like Josephat Langat. He owns a two-hectare farm near Eldoret in western Kenya.

JOSEPHAT LANGAT: "In a case where we do not have a lot of rainfall, it means we are going to lose all the crops. But this insurance policy is going to cover the farm inputs that we use in the farms, so that is going to give us the certainty of going back to the farms again if the rains do not come."

A farmer in Kenya uses the mobile phone registration⁶ system

He buys his agricultural inputs at Maraba Investments in Eldoret. About two hundred farmers signed up for the insurance within the first two weeks that it was being offered there. Beatrice Kemboi is a director of the business.

BEATRICE KEMBOI: "When a farmer elects to join the insurance, we sell the product on wholesale⁷ so that the premium is reduced, so that he doesn'tt feel it, so that it cushions him and I've also sold the product."

Beatrice Kemboi says every day she and her workers register from five to ten farmers in the program. When farmers buy their inputs, the store worker uses a mobile phone camera to scan barcode symbols that match the product. A text message confirming the policy number and sale is then sent automatically.

The program also uses solar-powered weather stations to record local rainfall amounts. The data is sent to the UAP Insurance Company. When there is crop failure because of a drought or flood, farmers receive a text message. It tells them to receive payment from the business where they purchased their inputs.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, with reporting by Cathy Majtenyi in Eldoret, Kenya. You can read and listen to our reports at voaspecialenglish.com. We're also on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and iTunes at VOA Learning English. I'm Jim Tedder⁸.

 

1 discriminate   

v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待

参考例句：

• You must learn to discriminate between facts and opinions.你必须学会把事实和看法区分出来。
• They can discriminate hundreds of colours.他们能分辨上百种颜色。

2 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

3 inputs   

n.输入( input的名词复数 )；投入；输入端；输入的数据v.把…输入电脑( input的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Uncheck the inputs checked for optimization in the previous stage. 不测试那些已经测试过的优化了的以前步骤的inputs.（变量参数）。 来自互联网
• Just in case, save in a file the inputs obtained at the previous stage. 以防万一，保存以前步骤获得的inputs（变量参数值）到一个文件中去。 来自互联网

4 premium   

n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的

参考例句：

• You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
• Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后，清水便因稀而贵了。

5 maize   

n.玉米

参考例句：

• There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。

6 registration   

n.登记，注册，挂号

参考例句：

• Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
• What's your registration number?你挂的是几号？

7 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

8 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网