非洲中部推土地股份协助农民种植作物

AS IT IS 2015-11-26 Land Shares Help Farmers in Central Africa Plant Peace 非洲中部推土地股份协助农民种植作物

Three times a week, a group of smallholder farmers work together in a community field in Kirolirwe, a village in North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Recently, the group prepared the soil before planting potatoes.

“Let’s go!” shouted the team leader. They encouraged each another to work harder.

Nearly 200,000 displaced persons fled to camps in the Democratic Republic of the Congo because of violence in the east. Most people there say land disputes are one of the root causes of the area’s conflicts.

So recently, large landowners have been asked to free up more of their land to individual farmers interested in cultivating crops.

Is this a solution to the land problem?

An organization called FOPAC is teaching this group better farming methods like sowing improved seeds in straight line furrows¹. It is also showing the farmers how to remove grass instead of burying it, and to use animal waste as fertilizer.

Mumbere Makuke works for FOPAC as a farming adviser².

He says the surrounding hills are owned by Olive Lembe, the wife of Joseph Kabila. Kabila is the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Much of the land once was cultivated. Mumbere Makuke says, the person Olive Lembe bought the property from last year stopped planting crops. Now, the land is mainly grassland³.

Lembe is now urging smallholders to grow crops on some of her land, which she has renamed Hope Farm. Many local people have trouble gaining use of the land. Ranchers bought much land in the area, often on dubious⁴ terms.

Hope Farm requires farmers to make payments for use of the land, and payments have risen sharply in recent years.

Mumbere Makuke says the usual rental⁵ payment in this area for one hectare is $200 for a season of four months. Many people rent smaller fields of about 400 square meters for $10 a season.

FOPAC tries to avoid conflict with ranchers whose animals often eat farmers’ crops.

He says “We decided⁶ to dig ditches around the fields to stop cattle from getting across.”

Reporter Nick Long says the farmers he spoke⁷ with seemed happy with the new farming techniques. But there is little manure⁸ available for their own fields. Also, improved potato seeds cost $1,600 for the two tons needed to plant one hectare.

That is a lot of money for many farmers. Josaphat Musansa is an agricultural researcher. He says many farmers are not wealthy enough to pay rent, let alone buy tons of improved seeds.

He says those farmers can use land if they give a share of their harvest, often 20 percent, to the landowner or manager. But as improved techniques take hold, some landowners may not be satisfied with a 20 percent share of what is likely to be a poor harvest.

Unless the government introduces policies to help smallholder farmers, they will have less and less land to use in this area. Smallholders risk becoming landless laborers⁹ as people with more money outbid them for access to land.

Words in This Story

trend – n. a direction of change; something that is popular

concessions¹⁰ – n. rights to do business on property that belongs to the government or another company or person

cultivate – v. to prepare and use for growing plants

furrows – n. long narrow cuts in the ground for planting crops

dubious – adj. questionable¹¹, unclear, suspicious

manure – n. animal waste used as fertilizer

rental – adj. of or relating to rent, payments given in exchange for being able to use something

outbid –v. to offer to pay a higher price than another person for an object at an auction

1 furrows   

n.犁沟( furrow的名词复数 )；（脸上的）皱纹v.犁田，开沟( furrow的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• I could tell from the deep furrows in her forehead that she was very disturbed by the news. 从她额头深深的皱纹上，我可以看出她听了这个消息非常不安。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dirt bike trails crisscrossed the grassy furrows. 越野摩托车的轮迹纵横交错地布满条条草沟。 来自辞典例句

2 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

3 grassland   

n.牧场，草地，草原

参考例句：

• There is a reach of grassland in the distance.远处是连绵一片的草原。
• The snowstorm swept the vast expanse of grassland.暴风雪袭击了辽阔的草原。

4 dubious   

adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• What he said yesterday was dubious.他昨天说的话很含糊。
• He uses some dubious shifts to get money.他用一些可疑的手段去赚钱。

5 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 manure   

n.粪，肥，肥粒；vt.施肥

参考例句：

• 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。

9 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

10 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

11 questionable   

adj.可疑的，有问题的

参考例句：

• There are still a few questionable points in the case.这个案件还有几个疑点。
• Your argument is based on a set of questionable assumptions.你的论证建立在一套有问题的假设上。