稻农担心泰国干燥天气影响稻米收成

AS IT IS 2015-07-20 Rice Farmers Worried As Dry Weather Hits Thailand 稻农担心泰国干燥天气影响稻米收成

Very dry weather is limiting the growing season of Thailand’s rice crop. Thai farmers are blaming the government for not doing more to protect rice – one of the country’s major exports.

Across Thailand, many farmers are growing worried as they wait for the rainy season.

“This is the worst drought ever,” says this rice farmer.

To protect water supplies, the government has reduced the flow of water from reservoirs. The reduction has changed the look of many rice fields. Irrigation ditches are now filled with wet soil or mud. They normally are full with water for crops.

Anant Seechanpang is a rice farmer. He is hoping for a more permanent solution to the problem.

He says, “We need help building a dam or a reservoir to keep water for us to use for planting rice while we wait for the rain to come -- to hold the water for a month or so before the rainy season starts.”

Some farmers are now digging for groundwater. But this activity might put aquifers² at risk. Last year, officials warned that some underground water supplies would run dry. But many farmers were unprepared.

Some agricultural experts say Thai farmers need help learning new ways to deal with having less water.

The expert says “The farmers don’t have enough knowledge to deal with the drought. They’ve told me they need help from the government to send them to study in similar countries on rice production to learn how to cope and handle the problem.”

Thailand is one of the biggest rice producers in the world. For now, Thai officials are predicting a 43 percent drop in off-season rice production. That would be the lowest amount in 15 years.

For many people, the lack of rainfall only worries them more and more. The country’s military rulers already cancelled a rice-buying program that cost the government billions of dollars.  

But officials say the current crisis is a top concern. They hold emergency meetings to discuss water restrictions³.

A government irrigation officer told VOA, “We’ve had to ask the farmers to slow down on the rice planting. We have asked them to postpone⁴ their planting just to prevent them fighting over the water.”

Many Thais hope that the sharp drop in rice production is a rarity.

Words in This Story

drought – n. a period during which there is very little or no rainfall

reservoirs – n. places that store water

irrigation – n. artificial or man-made methods to grow plants

aquifer¹ – n. underground rock that can hold water

cope – v. to deal with a problem

1 aquifer   

n.含水土层

参考例句：

• An aquifer is a water-bearing rock stratum such as sandstone and chalk.地下蓄水层是一些有水的岩石层，如沙岩和白垩岩。
• The wine region's first water came from an ancient aquifer.用来灌溉这个地区葡萄园的第一批水来自古老的地下蓄水层。

2 aquifers   

n.地下蓄水层，砂石含水层( aquifer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• And in Africa, the aquifers barely recharge at all. 非洲的地下水开采以后几乎得不到补充。 来自时文部分
• Aquifers have water contents over 30%. 含水层的水含过30％。 来自辞典例句

3 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

4 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。