美国国家公共电台 NPR South African Farmers Lose Crops And Workers Amid Crippling Drought

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

A prolonged drought means that Cape¹ Town, South Africa is running out of water. The city is frantically² trying to cut back the use to delay day zero. That's the day the city will shut off the taps, currently estimated to fall in April. The problem extends beyond the boundaries of the city, which has some 4 million people. As Peter Granitz reports, farmers in the region are losing access to dams they share with Cape Town just as the harvest season gets underway.

PETER GRANITZ, BYLINE³: Tony Largier grows apples, plums and nectarines at Little Oaks Farm. It's a beautiful piece of land in a valley between mountains. The closest one, Bok Kop, gets snow in the winter. We walk amid his nectarine trees.

TONY LARGIER: This variety is summer bright. It's sweet, crunchy. It's a good nectarine. It's one of the newer varieties.

GRANITZ: Largier and other farmers in the area pull water from the nearby Elandskloof Dam. It's part of a network of dams that farmers, villages and the city of Cape Town share. Farmers work on a quota⁴ system. An irrigation board determines how much water each farmer needs to grow certain crops and how much water the dam can spare. Their allocations have gotten smaller amid a three-year drought.

LARGIER: All the farms here pour water out of the dam and with a measured amount that we can pull every year. If you get your 100 percent quota, that would be what they reckon you need to grow a hectare of fruit.

GRANITZ: This year, Largier only got a 17 percent allocation because the Elandskloof Dam only filled a third of the way.

LARGIER: You're living on borrowed time. And 17 percent is a huge problem.

GRANITZ: Agriculture is big business here in the Western Cape province. Industry economists⁵ estimate that apples and pears are worth hundreds of millions of dollars each year. The Theewaterskloof Dam is the biggest in the network. About 70 miles east of Cape Town, it supplies both the city and local farmers. It's sitting at just 13 percent capacity. And here, there's no water to be seen. It looks like a sunken, sandy beach in the middle of a mountain range - a beach with no water. Billy Bourbon-Leftley is the strawberry king. That's the name of his business. He sells strawberries locally and exports plums.

BILLY BOURBON-LEFTLEY: We start planting within a month. And there's no water. We've ordered plants. We've paid for the plants. What are we going to do?

GRANITZ: One thing he will do - lay off workers. Analysts⁶ estimate between 30,000 and 70,000 seasonal⁷ workers could lose their jobs. Bourbon-Leftley told his workers that less water means lower yields. And lower yields means he cannot afford to hire everyone this season. He had his dam water shut off earlier this week.

BOURBON-LEFTLEY: They're taking the water away to the city. So it's a little bit unfair. As long as there's enough water for us, we don't mind. But now with the drought, they're taking more, more water from the agriculture.

GRANITZ: The water is being diverted to Cape Town to avoid day zero. But Kevin Winter with the Future Water Institute at the University of Cape Town says curtailing⁸ farmers will not prevent day zero.

KEVIN WINTER: It's not going to make a massive difference, but anything that allows us to push day zero out a little bit further is one management tool.

GRANITZ: Back at Little Oaks Farm, Tony Largier says he can use water from the dam until next month. After that, he'll rely on boreholes. He doesn't know how long that will last.

LARGIER: If the boreholes keep going, I believe I can, with a push and a shove, get through this season. How much mortality and trees, et cetera I'm going to have? That's anybody's guess.

GRANITZ: He's worried about the future. If the dams don't fill, there will be no groundwater. And since so many farmers are relying on boreholes, they're depleting⁹ the underground water supply. For NPR News, I'm Peter Granitz in Cape Town.

1 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

2 frantically   

ad.发狂地, 发疯地

参考例句：

• He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
• She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 quota   

n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额

参考例句：

• A restricted import quota was set for meat products.肉类产品设定了进口配额。
• He overfulfilled his production quota for two months running.他一连两个月超额完成生产指标。

5 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

7 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

8 curtailing   

v.截断，缩短( curtail的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They will be curtailing the discussions at two thirty. 他们将把讨论缩短至两点半。 来自互联网
• Individually, banks are acting rationally by retaining their capital and curtailing lending. 此外，银行们正在合理地保留其资本和减少贷款。 来自互联网

9 depleting   

使大大的减少，使空虚( deplete的现在分词 )； 耗尽，使枯竭

参考例句：

• Regulations are outlawing certain refrigerants, such as chlorofluorocarbons, which contain ozone-depleting chemicals. 随后出台的政策禁用了部分制冷剂，如破坏臭氧层的氟氯碳化合物。
• Aging, being a series of continual losses, can be keenly depleting. 老龄化，作为一个系列的连续亏损，可以清楚地消耗。