VOA慢速英语:Big Investors, Small Farmers in Africa: a Fair Deal?

Foreign investment in African land is growing. Countries like China, Saudi Arabia and South Korea are leasing or buying millions of hectares to grow food for their people.
对非洲土地的外商投资日益增多。中国、沙特阿拉伯和韩国等国家租赁或购买了数百万公顷土地为本国人民种植粮食。

Research shows that many large land deals lack protections for small farmers. Contracts may guarantee leases for up to ninety-nine years, leaving local people without land for generations.
研究表明，许多大型土地交易缺乏对小农户的保护。合同可能担保了长达99年的租约，让当地人世代都没有自己的土地。

Better practices balance exports with local food needs and give farmers ways to enforce promises by investors. They also make clear what kinds of jobs and how many jobs will be created. Smallholders can gain influence if they form cooperatives or unions or have the support of nongovernmental organizations.
更好的做法平衡了出口与当地粮食的需求，并给了农民执行投资者承诺的方式。他们也弄清楚了会有什么样的工作，以及会创造多少就业机会。如果组成合作社、工会，或者有非政府组织的帮助，小农们就能获得影响力。

There are different business models for cooperation between investors and local farmers. Lorenzo Cotula is a senior researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development in London. One popular method, says Mr. Cotula, is contract farming.
投资者和当地农民之间的合作中有不同的商业模式。Lorenzo Cotula是伦敦国际环境与发展研究所一名高级研究员。一种流行的方法是，Cotula先生说，合约式农业。

LORENZO COTULA: "Contract farming has been around for a very long time and which essentially involves a company providing credit, inputs like seeds and fertilizers and training and all that, and then buying produce from the farmers at a fixed price when harvest time comes."
LORENZO COTULA：“合约式农业已经存在很长一段时间了，其中主要涉及公司提供信贷，投入像种子、化肥和培训等资源，然后，当收获季节来临时，以固定价格收购农民的产品。”

Companies usually deduct the cost of the inputs from the final purchase price. He says contract farming represents up to sixty percent of tea and sugar farming in Kenya and one hundred percent of cotton farming in Mozambique.
公司通常会从最终收购价格中扣除投入成本。他说，合约式农业代表了肯尼亚多达60%的茶叶和蔗糖种植，以及莫桑比克100%的棉花种植。

Contract farming may give farmers more access to markets for high-value crops. But Mr. Cotula found that contracts often go to wealthier farmers. Poorer farmers often work as labor on the contracted farms.
合约式农业能给农民提供更多进入高价值农作物市场的途径。但Cotula先生发现，合约经常给了富农。贫农经常都是作为承包农场中的劳力。

The price that companies pay to farmers may be low, and companies might not honor purchase agreements when market conditions change.
公司支付给农民的价格可能会很低，而当市场情况发生变化时，公司可能无法履行买卖合约。

Also, growers may go into debt when the company deducts payments for inputs from the final purchase price.
此外，当公司从最终收购价扣除投入成本时，种植户可能会负债。

Another business model is a joint venture. Lorenzo Cotula says an equity stake, or share of ownership, in a business can give communities a voice in decision-making. It can also provide income in the form of dividend payments.
另一种商业模式是合资企业。Cotula说，一个企业的股权或所有权份额，能够为民众提供参与决策的机会，它还能以支付股息的形式提供的收入。

But a practice called "transfer pricing" can make those dividends disappear. Prices are inflated or deflated in deals with companies linked to the partner in the joint-venture. This practice reduces profits for the joint-venture company and dividends for smallholder partners.
但一种所谓的“转让定价”的做法，可以使这些红利消失。在与合资企业合作者相关联公司的交易中价格会虚高。这种做法降低了合资公司的利润，以及给小农们的分红。

As a solution, contracts may require fair market prices for sales to partners.
作为一种解决方案，合同可能需要以公平的市场价格向合作伙伴销售。