VOA慢速英语:Climate Change May Put African Small-Scale Farmers at Risk

A new study says the speed and severity of climate change could cause major damage to small African farms. These farmers are already struggling to deal with the effects of climate change. The study was released at the African Green Revolution Forum in Addis Ababa last month. It is called the 2014 African Agriculture Status Report.
一项新的研究表明，气候变化的速度和严重性可能会给非洲小农场造成重大损失。这些农民已经在艰难应对气候变化的影响。这项研究发布于上月在亚的斯亚贝巴举行的非洲绿色革命论坛，它被称为《2014年非洲农业现状报告》。

David Sarfo Ameyaw was a lead producer of the report. He is a director at AGRA, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.
David Sarfo Ameyaw是这份报告的主要制作人。他是非洲绿色革命联盟的一位负责人。

"Small-scale farmers are the backbone of African agriculture. About 70-percent of the rural population in sub-Saharan Africa are small-scale farmers. They produce about 80-percent of the food need in Africa," said Ameyaw.
Ameyaw说，“小规模农户是非洲农业的支柱。撒哈拉以南非洲大约70%的农村人口是小规模农户。他们生产了非洲所需粮食的80%。”

Small-scale farmers grow most of the staple crops in Africa on fields that are usually from two to 10 hectares. Small-scale farmers in Africa are much less productive than those in other continents.
小规模农户在那些通常为2-10公顷的土地上种植了非洲大部分的粮食作物。非洲小规模农户的生产力要远低于其它大陆的农户。

In African countries, farmers produce about one-point-five tons of cereal from each hectare. Farmers in many other countries produce more than five tons per hectare. Mr Ameyaw says there are several reasons for this difference.
非洲国家农民从每公顷土地上能生产出大约1.5吨粮食。许多其它国家的农民每公顷能生产超过5吨粮食。Ameyaw先生称，这种差异有一下几个原因。

"About 90-precent of these farms are rain-fed, which means that they depend on the weather. Weather is rainfall. Weather is drought. Weather is [an] increase in temperature. They are [more] exposed to these climate effects than any other part of the world. On top of that most of them use their own labor or family labor. They are not mechanized," he said.
“非洲大约90%的农场靠雨水灌溉，这意味着它们取决于天气。天气有降雨、干旱、高温之分。与世界其它地区的农民相比，非洲农民更容易受到气候影响的攻击。更重要的是，多数非洲农民是利用家庭劳动力而不是机械化。”

The AGRA report says farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are also dealing with rising temperatures.
这份非洲绿色革命联盟的报告声称，撒哈拉以南非洲农民还得应对不断上升的温度。

"It's been projected that within the next 35 years the increase in temperature will be between one-point-five to two-point-five degrees [Celsius]. This major rise in temperature brings a lot of issues to Africa food security. It is going to affect reduction in yield, which is already low – increase invulnerability to pests and diseases that will kill most of the livestock," said Ameyaw.
Ameyaw 说，“预计未来35年气温将上升1.5到2.5摄氏度。温度大幅提升给非洲粮食安全带来了很多问题。它会造成原本就已经很低的产量减少，增加能够杀死大部分牲畜的病虫害的耐受性。”

Climate change is also expected to affect the average length of the growing season, this could continue to reduce the already low amount of crops that come from each hectare.
气候变化也将影响到作物生长季节的平均时长，这会造成原本已经很低的每公顷产量继续减少。

Mr Ameyaw says experts are urging African farmers to reduce the effects of climate change with a program called climate smart agriculture. The program includes ways to improve and care for soil.
Ameyaw先生称，专家们正在督促非洲农民通过一个被称为气候智能型农业的方案来降低气候变化的影响。该方案包括改善和养护土壤的方法。

"We are talking about farmers being able to adopt both organic and inorganic nutrient enriching technology to improve their soil fertility. Things that we promote are the right use of inorganic and organic fertilizer, soil tillage, the right use of cultivating the land. Putting things like legumes and cereals together to increase the soil nutrient content," he said.
他说，“我们说的是农民们能够采用有机和无机营养富集技术来提高他们的土壤的肥力。我们提倡正确使用无机和有机肥，正确耕作土地。像把豆类和谷类一起种，来提高土壤的养分含量。”