VOA慢速英语:Experts Defend Way of Life for Herders in East Africa

Pastoralism remains a way of life in East Africa. Herders travel from place to place in the dry, dusty deserts to find food and water for their animals. But some people think this movement of livestock is bad for the environment. They say pastoralists should settle on farms and grow their own food, especially in times of shortages.
畜牧生活仍是东非的一种生活方式。为了替他们的动物寻找食物和水源，牧民们在干燥、尘土飞扬的沙漠上四处游走。但有些人认为，这些牲畜的迁徙不利于环境。他们说，牧民应该在农场定居，种植自己的粮食，特别是在短缺的时期。

Not everyone agrees. Experts recently met in Nairobi to discuss what to do about food shortages caused by drought. They say pastoralists make the best use of resources.
并不是所有人都同意。专家们最近在内罗毕举行会议，讨论如何面对干旱造成的粮食短缺。他们说，牧民使资源得到最佳利用。

David Mwangi at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute says grasslands have time to recover.
在肯尼亚农业研究所的David Mwangi称示，草原有时间来恢复。

DAVID MWANGI: “Pastoralists would move in search for pasture and also water. Because what then would happen, if you are in a small area, the moment the water is exhausted, you would have to move to the next area where there is water. It gives the area you have left time to regenerate. And by the time you come back through the loop, this area now has pasture to graze.”
DAVID MWANGI：“牧民为寻找牧草地和水源而迁徙。因为如果你生活在一个小的区域内，当水资源耗尽的时候所发生的就是，你不得不迁徙到下一个有水资源的区域。而你离开的地区将会有时间再生。而直到你循环再回到这里时，这个地区又有牧草可以放牧。”
Mr. Mwangi says the land used for animals is often not good enough for farming, especially during droughts. He and other experts say pastoralism makes the most sense for dry and semi-dry lands.
Mwangi先生说，用于放牧的土地往往不适合耕种，尤其是在干旱期间。他和其他专家称，畜牧业使得干旱和半干旱土地得到了最佳利用。

Jeff Hill directs policy for the Bureau of Food Aid at the United States Agency for International Development. He says arid and semi-arid lands represent about eighty percent of the Horn of Africa. Livestock-based economies in these areas provide up to forty percent of agricultural production in Ethiopia and fifty percent in Kenya. And in Somalia, Mr. Hill says, the percentage is even higher.
Jeff Hill指导美国国际开发署粮食援助机构的政策。他说，干旱和半干旱土地占了非洲之角80%的土地。在这些地区的畜牧业基础经济提供的农产品在埃塞尔比亚占到了40%，在肯尼亚占到了50%。而在索马里，Hill先生说，这一比例甚至更高。

JEFF HILL: “In Somalia, livestock systems fuel the economy.”
JEFF HILL：“在索马里，畜牧业刺激经济发展。”

An estimated ninety percent of the meat eaten in East Africa comes from pastoralist herds.
据估计，东非地区食用的的肉类90%来自牧区畜群。

Mr. Hill says Kenya and other governments have only recently recognized the value of arid and semi-arid lands. These lands have often been excluded from government planning and road building. Herders can face limited access to grazing and watering areas.
Hill先生称，肯尼亚和其他国家的政府最近才承认干旱和半干旱土地的价值。这些土地往往被排除在政府的规划和道路建设之外。牧民可能面临被限制进入放牧和供水区。

Researcher David Mwangi says communities need to be creative with the resources they have. He says a good example is a project in Kenya in which grass is grown in the desert to feed livestock.
研究员David Mwangi称，社区对他们拥有的资源需要有创意。他说一个很好的例子就是肯尼亚在沙漠中种植牧草饲养牲畜的项目。

DAVID MWANGI: “What would happen if we developed a system where we grow fodder and pasture along the river and the animals are taken off from the range and finished nearer to the market?  What we need is a system, and that is what has been really lacking.”
DAVID MWANGI：“如果我们开发一个系统，沿河种植牧草，并且将牲畜们从生长区带出来，出栏时更接近市场，将会发生什么呢？我们需要的就是这样一个系统，而这正是一直所缺乏的。”

He also says more efforts need to be put into raising camels. Camels are often the only animals that produce milk during a drought.
他还说，饲养骆驼需要拖入更多的努力。骆驼是唯一在干旱时产奶的动物。