VOA慢速英語(yǔ):Growing Controversy Over GMO Bananas in Uganda

From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.

這里是美國(guó)之音慢速英語(yǔ)農(nóng)業(yè)報(bào)道。

Today, we take you to a small banana plantation near Kampala. The trees are healthy and green, but Andrew Kiggundu does not like what he sees.

今天我們帶你到坎帕拉附近的一個(gè)小香蕉園。這些健康的香蕉樹(shù)一片翠綠，但安德魯·基岡度(Andrew Kiggundu)對(duì)他看到的卻不滿意。

"The disease on the leaves you see right now is not the wilt, it is a different disease called black sigatoka. It is just killing off the leaves and causing significant yield loss. This is a big problem, although of course not as much as the wilt, because the wilt just destroys the whole plant."

他說(shuō)，“你現(xiàn)在看到的葉子所患的病不是香蕉枯萎病，它是一種不同的疾病，被稱(chēng)為香蕉葉斑病。它正在殺死香蕉葉子，并造成重大的產(chǎn)量損失。這是一個(gè)大問(wèn)題，雖然其危害尚不及香蕉枯萎病，因?yàn)橄憬犊菸?huì)破壞整顆植株。”

Andrew Kiggundu works with the National Agricultural Research Organization, also known as NARO. The Ugandan government agency is developing genetically engineer bananas. The new plants are meant to resist black sigatoka and banana bacterial wilt, which has been destroying a large amounts of the country's banana crop.

基岡度就職于烏干達(dá)國(guó)家農(nóng)業(yè)研究組織(簡(jiǎn)稱(chēng)NARO)。這家烏干達(dá)政府機(jī)構(gòu)正在開(kāi)發(fā)轉(zhuǎn)基因香蕉。這種新作物是為了對(duì)抗香蕉葉斑病和香蕉細(xì)菌性枯萎病，這兩種病害已經(jīng)摧毀了烏干達(dá)大量的香蕉作物。

Uganda is the world's top consumer of bananas. NARO Research Director Wilberforce Tushemereirwe says this is why it is so important to produce healthy plants.

烏干達(dá)是全球最大的香蕉消費(fèi)國(guó)。烏干達(dá)國(guó)家農(nóng)業(yè)研究組織的研究總監(jiān)Wilberforce Tushemereirwe表示，這就是生產(chǎn)健康作物如此重要的原因。

"The disease keeps on moving around wiping out garden after garden, so you will go to areas where you find they have changed from banana to annual crops. That has already introduced food insecurity, because they are not used to handling annual crops."

他說(shuō)，“這種疾病四處肆掠，挨個(gè)消滅香蕉園，所以你在一些地方會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，它們已經(jīng)從香蕉變成了一年生作物。這已經(jīng)引發(fā)了糧食不安全，因?yàn)樗鼈儾皇怯脕?lái)對(duì)付一年生作物。”

The central African nation already permits testing of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. Lawmakers are considering a bill that would permit the development and distribution of such organisms through out the country. But some activists say genetically modified organisms would be dangerous to human health and the environment.

烏干達(dá)這種中非國(guó)家已經(jīng)允許轉(zhuǎn)基因生物實(shí)驗(yàn)。立法者正在籌備一項(xiàng)允許這類(lèi)生物在全國(guó)開(kāi)發(fā)和擴(kuò)散的議案。但一些活動(dòng)人士表示，轉(zhuǎn)基因生物對(duì)人類(lèi)和環(huán)境有害。

Giregon Olupot is a soil biophysicist at Makerere University in Kampala.

Giregon Olupot是坎帕拉市馬凱雷雷大學(xué)的一位土壤生物物理學(xué)家。

"There are a range of options that risk to be wiped [out], just by this technology. With bananas, tissue culture has worked well to engineer healthy plants. You then take these plants to a clean garden and maintain field hygiene. Why are we not giving emphasis to that technology?"

他說(shuō)，“通過(guò)這項(xiàng)技術(shù)可以消除很多類(lèi)的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。在香蕉方面，植物組織培養(yǎng)在改造健康植株基因方面效果很好。然后我們把這些植株移入無(wú)病害的香蕉園里并保持田間衛(wèi)生。為什么我們不重視這種技術(shù)?”

Most genetically modified seeds are patented, this means farmers must purchase them after each planting. Mr Olupot says, this might be possible for profitable farmers, but smaller farmers depend on their own seeds. In his opinion, selling genetically modified seeds to small farmers could trap them.

大多數(shù)轉(zhuǎn)基因種子具有專(zhuān)利，這意味著農(nóng)民們每次播種后都要再次購(gòu)買(mǎi)種子。Olupot先生說(shuō)，這對(duì)效益好的農(nóng)民來(lái)說(shuō)沒(méi)問(wèn)題，但規(guī)模較小的農(nóng)民都依賴(lài)自己的種子。在他看來(lái)，銷(xiāo)售轉(zhuǎn)基因種子會(huì)使小農(nóng)戶陷入困境。

"If you are to go commercial, it has to be on a large scale. Now the farmers we are talking about, on average, have 0.4 hectares of land. It is simply not suitable for our farmers."

他說(shuō)，“如果你要商業(yè)化就必須大規(guī)模。我們現(xiàn)在談?wù)摰倪@些農(nóng)民平均只有0.4公頃土地，所以它根本不適合我們這些農(nóng)民。”

A public institution is developing Uganda's genetically modified bananas. NARO says no patent laws will restrict their use. But Mr Olupot says this would probably not be true with genetically modified crops introduced to Uganda in future. Mr Kiggundu says opponents of genetically modified plans have been strong in their criticisms. He says many farmers are now afraid of GMOs.

一家公共機(jī)構(gòu)正在開(kāi)發(fā)烏干達(dá)的轉(zhuǎn)基因香蕉。烏干達(dá)國(guó)家農(nóng)業(yè)研究組織表示，沒(méi)有專(zhuān)利法會(huì)限制它們的使用。但Olupot表示，這對(duì)未來(lái)引入到烏干達(dá)的轉(zhuǎn)基因作物來(lái)說(shuō)是不可能的。基岡度先生說(shuō)，轉(zhuǎn)基因計(jì)劃反對(duì)者的批評(píng)聲一直很大。

The Ugandan parliament is expected to pass the Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill before the end of the year.

烏干達(dá)議會(huì)有望在今年年底之前通過(guò)生物技術(shù)和生物安全法案。

And that's the Agriculture Report from VOA Learning English.

以上就是來(lái)自美國(guó)之音英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)農(nóng)業(yè)報(bào)道的全部?jī)?nèi)容。