2022年10月30日 VOA慢速英語：保水技術促進非洲作物生長

 

Increasingly severe droughts in Africa make it very hard to grow food, especially in the dryer areas of the continent. But a water system developed in the United States is helping improve crop production in drought-affected areas.
非洲日益嚴重的干旱使糧食種植變得非常困難，尤其是在非洲大陸的干旱地區。但美國開發的供水系統正在幫助改善受干旱影響地區的作物產量。
 
The system involves plastic membranes that look like clear covers. When put in the ground, they prevent the loss of water and other healthful substances from the soil.
該系統涉及看起來像透明覆蓋物的塑料膜。當放入地下時，它們可以防止土壤中的水分和其他健康物質流失。
 
The technology has so far been tested in Zimbabwe and Kenya and has been performing well.
迄今為止，該技術已在津巴布韋和肯尼亞進行了測試，并且表現良好。
 
In the village of Ulilinzi of southeastern Kenya, the sandy soil has made it nearly impossible to produce a lot of crops. The problem is made worse by droughts. But the new water retention technology is giving farmers here new hope.
在肯尼亞東南部的 Ulilinzi 村，沙質土壤幾乎不可能大量生產農作物。干旱使問題更加嚴重。但新的保水技術給這里的農民帶來了新的希望。
 
Alvin Smucker is a professor of soil biophysics at Michigan State University. He developed the water system.
Alvin Smucker 是密歇根州立大學土壤生物物理學教授。他開發了水系統。
 
"We had a lot of government funding, going into millions and millions of dollars to put all these systems together and then test it in Texas, Arizona, California and Michigan," he said.
“我們有大量的政府資金，投入數百萬美元將所有這些系統放在一起，然后在德克薩斯州、亞利桑那州、加利福尼亞州和密歇根州進行測試，”他說。
 
"This is not something that we just put a little container in the backyard — my backyard — and now we are saying it is the best in the world. It has been tested," he said.
“這不是我們只是在后院——我的后院——放一個小容器的東西，現在我們說它是世界上最好的。它已經過測試，”他說。
 
Shem Kuyah is a researcher at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. He is one of the scientists leading the testing of the technology in Kenya. He said the membranes were tested on farms that grow cowpeas and corn.
Shem Kuyah 是喬莫肯雅塔農業科技大學的研究員。他是在肯尼亞領導該技術測試的科學家之一。他說，這些膜在種植豇豆和玉米的農場進行了測試。
 
"We realized that farms where we had installed these membranes were more productive," he said.
“我們意識到我們安裝了這些膜的農場生產力更高，”他說。
 
Florence Mutisya is a farmer there. She has tried the technology at her farm.
Florence Mutisya 是那里的農民。她已經在她的農場嘗試過這項技術。
 
"I saw the benefits," she said. "And I can say that this technology is working very well because now, I get [a] good harvest."
“我看到了好處，”她說。“而且我可以說這項技術運行良好，因為現在，我得到了 [a] 豐收。”
 
Ulilinzi farmer Anne Mutunga agrees.
Ulilinzi 的農民 Anne Mutunga 對此表示贊同。
 
"The technology is very good," she said, adding, "we have vegetables which you can't find anywhere else around here."
“這項技術非常好，”她說，并補充說，“我們有蔬菜，你在這里其他任何地方都找不到。”
 
Sylvia Nyawira is a researcher at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, one of the organizations leading testing in the sub-Saharan area. She said the retention technology could help crop growth over a long time period.
Sylvia Nyawira 是國際熱帶農業中心的研究員，該中心是在撒哈拉以南地區進行測試的組織之一。她說，保留技術可以幫助作物在很長一段時間內生長。
 
"If farmers continue to retain their crop residues in the soil…there's buildup of organic matter," she said. "So, even in five years to come, the yields that we have been witnessing in plots that have the technology are expected to be much higher."
“如果農民繼續將他們的作物殘留物保留在土壤中……有機物就會堆積起來，”她說。 “因此，即使在未來五年內，我們在擁有該技術的地塊中看到的產量預計也會更高。”
 
Apart from improving crop production, experts say the technology can also help reduce the effects of climate change.
除了提高作物產量外，該技術還可以幫助專家減少氣候變化的影響。
 
"As you increase productivity, the crops are able to take carbon from the atmosphere and fix it into their biomass," Kuyah said. "You are able to lock it into the soil."
“當你提高生產力時，作物能夠從大氣中吸收碳并將其固定到它們的生物質中，”庫亞說。 “你可以把它鎖在土里。”
 
However, the new water retention technology has a high cost and requires a lot of labor. It costs as much as $2,000 to buy the membranes to cover one hectare of land.
然而，新的保水技術成本高，需要大量的勞動力。購買膜覆蓋一公頃土地的成本高達 2,000 美元。