VOA慢速英语:Farmers Protecting Against Crop Theft in a Unusual Way

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.
报道称，刚果民主共和国东部的农民正在以不同寻常的方式保护作物被盗。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.
联合国粮农组织定期和刚果东部的农民谈话。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。他们想，战争或许只是偷盗作物的一个借口。

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。比如，他知道乌干达附近一个地区的很多人开始种黄豆。

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，乌干达大量需要黄豆，这里需要磨碎黄豆，拿来作为饼干等加工食品的原料。

Kahomboshi tells VOA that farmers in Masisi, another war-stricken territory west of Rutshuru, are switching to growing cassava.
KahoKahomboshi告诉美国之音，在鲁丘鲁西边另一个遭受战争摧残的地区马西西，人们开始种植木薯。

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是戈马大学的一名农学家，他也认为黄豆不易被盗，但他不确定木薯的命运。

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.
他说木薯是一种主食，所以风险更大，他还指出，尽管木薯不易被盗，因为必须连根拔出，晒干后磨成粉，所以木薯通常很快就被盗走了。

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.
多年的战争和种族冲突使得刚果东部地区的社区已经分裂。这意味着村民的庄稼除了被武装组织，还可能被邻居窃取。