DRC Farmers Facing Theft Switch to Less Edible Crops

刚果农民改种其它不容易被偷的食物

From VOA learning English, this is the Agriculture report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。

Report says farmers in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo are protecting against crop theft in an unusual way. Aid workers say the farmers are growing crops that are less likely to be stolen.

有报告称，刚果民主共和国东部的农民用一种不同寻常的方式防止庄稼被盗。援助工作者表示，农民们都在种植不太容易被窃取的庄稼。

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization regularly talks with farmers in the eastern DRC. It says in the past year, added insecurity has caused many farmers to grow crops they had not grown earlier.

联合国粮农组织经常同刚果民主共和国东部的农民交谈。该组织表示，在过去一年，更多的不安全因素使得许多农民开始种植他们以前没种过的庄稼。

Guillaume Kahomboshi is a food security expert with the FAO in Goma. He says the peasants are struck by the way that wars here always seem to break out at harvest time. They are thinking the wars maybe just an excuse to steal their crops.

Guillaume Kahomboshi是粮农组织驻戈马市的粮食安全专家。他表示，农民们震惊于这里的战争总在收获季节爆发。他们在想，战争也许只是窃取他们庄稼的借口。

Mr Kahomboshi says many poor farmers are changing the kinds of crops they grow to try to reduce the threat that their crops will be stolen. For example,he knows that most of the people in a territory near Uganda are starting to grow soya.

Kahomboshi先生表示，许多贫困农民在改变他们种植的庄稼，以图减少其庄稼被窃取的风险。例如他获悉乌干达附近某地区的大多数农民都开始种植大豆。

The territory is called Rutshuru. Mr Kahomboshi suggests this is because soya is not pleasant to eat until it has been dried and milled. He says the armed groups want food that is ready to eat. In addition, there is good demand for soya in Uganda, where it is milled and then used as an ingredient in biscuits and other processed foods.

这个地区就是鲁丘鲁市。Kahomboshi先生暗示，这是因为大豆在晒干和研磨前没法吃。他说，武装组织想要直接能吃的食物。另外，乌干达对大豆有需求，大豆在这里被研磨，然后被用作饼干和其它加工食品的原料。

Kahomboshi tells VOA that farmers in Masisi, another war-stricken territory west of Rutshuru, are switching to growing cassava.

Kahomboshi对美国之音表示，鲁丘鲁市西部另一个饱受战火蹂躏的地区马西西市都开始改种木薯。

Franck Muke is an agronomist at Goma University. He agrees soya is less likely to be stolen, but he's not so sure about cassava, known as manioc in Congo.

Franck Muke是戈马大学的农学家。他认同大豆被窃取的可能性更低，但他对木薯不确定，它也被称为刚果木薯。

He says cassava is more of a risk because it is a staple food, and he has noticed that although cassava is not easy to pilfer, because it has to be uprooted and then dried and milled, it is often quickly pillaged.

他说木薯风险更大，因为它是一种主食。而且他注意到，虽然木薯不容易被盗，因为它需要被连根拔起然后晒干研磨。但它经常被快速掠夺。

However, the non-governmental organization Concern, which spoke with people in villages affected by ethnic conflict in Masisi, reported less theft of cassava than of other crops.

然而，经常同马西西市受种族冲突影响的村庄交流的非政府组织Concern报告称木薯被盗少于其它庄稼。

Years of war and ethnic conflict in parts of eastern Congo have divided communities, this means villagers' crops are as likely to be stolen by their neighbors as by the armed groups.

刚果东部地区多年的战争和种族冲突使得社区分化。这意味着村民的庄稼除了被武装组织，还可能被邻居窃取。