VOA慢速英语2012--Agriculture Report - A Call for Equal Rights for Women Farmers

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。

A new report says if women farmers had the same rights as men, more could be done to reduce world hunger. The report, "Empowering Women in Agriculture," is from the anti-hunger group Bread for the World. Bread for the World says equal access to agricultural resources would help increase food security and economic growth.

一份新的报告称，如果女性农民有着与男性相同的权利，就能够在减少全球饥饿问题上取得更大进展。这份名为《在农业上赋权女性》的报告来自反饥饿组织“施世面包组织”。该组织表示，赋予女性在农业资源上的平等机会将有助于提高粮食安全和经济增长。

Faustine Wabwire is the group's foreign assistance specialist.

福斯廷·瓦布瓦尔（Faustine Wabwire）是该组织的对外援助专家。

FAUSTINE WABMIRE: "Women constituted half of the agricultural labor¹ force in not just Africa, but the developing countries as a whole. And when you think of Africa alone, it's more than sixty percent of the total agricultural labor force being provided by women."

瓦布瓦尔：“不仅是在非洲，把所有发展中国家作为一个整体，女性都占据了农业劳动力的一半。如果单独看非洲你会发现，超过60%的农业劳动力是由女性承担的。”

The report says in most countries, women working in rural areas are more likely than men to hold seasonal², part-time and low-wage jobs. They also receive less pay for the same work.

这份报告称，在大多数国家，在农村地区工作的女性比男性从事季节性、临时性和低收入工作的可能性更大。做同样工作的女性获得的工资也更低。

Ms. Wabwire says women farmers often cannot get seeds, fertilizer, proper tools, credit and, especially, land.

女性农民往往无法获得种子、化肥、适当农具，信贷，特别是土地。

FAUSTINE WABWIRE: "For most of Africa, we have about eighty percent of the population living in rural areas and they subsist³ on agriculture. Now women make sixty percent of the agricultural labor force and they have no access to resources. So, for example, land is one good example where less than twenty percent of all landholders are women."

瓦布瓦尔：“对非洲大部分地区来说，大约80%的人口生活在农村地区，以农业为生。当前女性构成了农业劳动力的60%，同时她们无法获得农业资源。土地就是一个很好的例子，只有不到20%的土地的所有者是女性。”

This is often because of legal as well as cultural reasons. She says women who have lost their husbands may have no legal rights over their land. The only way to keep the land, she says, is to marry, say, the brother of the dead husband.

这通常是法律或文化上的原因。她说，丧夫的女性在土地上没有合法权利。她们继续保有土地的唯一途径就是嫁个去世丈夫的兄弟。

FAUSTINE WABWIRE: "So constraints⁴ like this are still very prevalent in most African societies and they continue to impede⁵ women's ability to fully⁶ enjoy their human rights."

瓦布瓦尔："这类限制在大部分非洲社会仍然非常普遍，它们继续阻碍了女性充分享受人权的权利。"

However, Ms. Wabwire says women in agriculture are getting more attention these days. For example, Kenya's new constitution gives women the right to own land. But she says there is still a long way to go. Bread for the World is urging the United States government to increase development assistance, or at least not to decrease it.

然而，瓦布瓦尔女士表示，农业女性近来获得了越来越多的关注。例如，肯尼亚新宪法赋予了女性拥有土地的权利。但她表示还有很长的路要走。施世面包组织正督促美国政府增加发展援助，或者至少是不予降低。

FAUSTINE WABWIRE: "This assistance through programs such as Feed the Future, which is the U.S. government's agriculture program, is helping⁷ to elevate the status of women. It's enabling women to access productive resources such as seeds. They are able to have access to extension services, which will enable them to produce more and contribute to healthy societies."

瓦布瓦尔：“借助诸如美国政府《保障未来粮食供给》这种农业项目进行的援助有助于提高女性地位。这些项目使得女性能够获得种子之类的生产资源。她们也能够获得延伸服务，而这将使她们能够生产出更多粮食，对健康社会做出贡献。”

But Ms. Wabwire says more African governments must recognize the major role that women play in agriculture and elsewhere. The report says, "Putting more income in the hands of women translates into improved child nutrition, health, and education." It gives women a way to "transform the economic life of the communities and countries in which they live."

但瓦布瓦尔女士说，更多非洲政府必须意识到女性在农业和其它领域发挥的重要作用。报告称，“让女性获得更多收入还意味着改善儿童营养、健康和教育。”

Just how much could hunger be reduced if women had equal access to agricultural resources? The report estimates that hunger could be reduced for an extra one hundred to one hundred fifty million people.

如果女性在农业资源上获得平等机会，能够减少多少饥饿？该报告估计，这将会额外解决1亿到1.5亿人的饥饿问题。

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. You can find a link to the Bread for the World report at www.voanews.cn. I'm Jim Tedder⁸.

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Contributing: Joe De Capua

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