This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。
Airtight plastic bags can help farmers protect their harvests without the use of harmful chemicals. These bags are designed to keep air out of crops in storage. They are a simple way to fight insects and keep food fresh.
密封塑料袋可以帮助人们保护粮食收成，而无需使用有害化学品。这种塑料袋用于防止空气进入储藏的粮食，它是一种应对虫害和食品保鲜的简单手段。
Ten countries in West and Central Africa are involved in a project to improve the storage of cowpeas, also known as black-eyed peas.
西非和中非的十个国家参与了这个改善豇豆储藏的项目，豇豆也被称为黑眼豆。
Farmers can lose much of the harvest to insects called bruchids. These grow from egg to adult in a few weeks and then lay forty to sixty more eggs. They can destroy the whole harvest within months.
农民可能因为一种称为绿豆象(bruchid)的害虫失去大量收成。绿豆象从虫卵长大至成虫只需数周，随后产下四十到六十只虫卵。它们能在数月内毁掉所有收成。
Farmers can sell their crop immediately. But selling at harvest time means more competition and lower prices. Or they can use pesticides to kill the bugs. But crop scientist Dieudonne Baributsa says that is also risky.
农民们可以选择尽快卖出他们的粮食。但在收获季节出售，意味着竞争更激励，价格更低。或者他们也可以使用杀虫剂杀死害虫，但农作物学家Dieudonne Baributsa表示，使用杀虫剂也有风险。
DIEUDONNE BARIBUTSA: "They end up misusing or overusing the pesticide. In Nigeria, they have reported a lot of cases of death. They usually call it in Nigeria 'killer beans.'"
DIEUDONNE BARIBUTSA：“最终的结果是误用或过度使用杀虫剂。尼日利亚已经报告了很多起与此相关的死亡病例，他们通常称这种过度使用杀虫剂的豇豆为“杀人豆”。
Mr. Baributsa is a researcher at Purdue University in the American state of Indiana. The project is called PICS, for Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage.
Baributsa是美国印第安纳州普渡大学的一名研究员。该项目被称为“PICS”项目，即普渡大学改善豇豆储藏项目。
Mr. Baributsa says the storage bags are thick enough that any insects already in the cowpeas will die from a lack of oxygen. The lack of air will also help prevent the growth of bacteria and fungi that can ruin the harvest.
Baributsa表示这种储藏袋足够厚，豇豆中的任何昆虫都将会死于缺氧。隔绝空气也将有助于防止能够毁掉收成的细菌和真菌滋生。
DIEUDONNE BARIBUTSA: "If you go in the market in Africa, you find those bags with a small liner inside, like if you buy sugar and so on. Those are low density, so they are very permeable to oxygen. So if you put your cowpeas in there, they will be destroyed because the insects will still access the air."
BARIBUTSA：“如果你去到非洲市场，当你买糖一类的东西时，你会发现那种带内衬的袋子。这种袋子都是低密度的，空气可以轻松渗入。因此如果你把豇豆装入这种袋中，它们很快就会毁掉，因为害虫仍能接触到空气。”
The bags cost about two dollars each. Mr. Baributsa says that is not much, especially if it means farmers can wait long enough to get a better price for their crop.
而每只密封袋的成本大约是2美元。Baributsa表示这并不贵，特别是如果这种密封袋意味着农民可以等更长时间出售他们的作物，可以获得更好的价格。
The bags are produced locally. Donors currently support the project, but the groups involved are working to build a lasting market for the bags.
这些密封袋在当地生产。国际捐助者目前支援了这个项目，但相关的一些团体正试图为这些密封袋创建一个可持续的市场。
DIEUDONNE BARIBUTSA: "With many development projects, what [you do is], you go in the village and you give the farmers the bags. And then once the project ends, that farmer cannot find the bag on the market. We feel like that is not a sustainable approach to development."
BARIBUTSA：“和很多开发项目一样，我们进到村里，给农民们发放这种密封袋。而随后一旦项目结束，农民们却无法在市场上找到这种密封袋。我们认为这不是一种可持续的发展模式。
The bags are being advertised by radio and mobile phone videos in local languages.
这种密封袋正使用当地语言通过广播电台和手机视频宣传。
The project includes Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Mali. The other countries are Senegal, Cameroon, Benin, Togo and Chad.
该项目涉及的国家包括尼日利亚、尼日尔、布基纳法索、加纳和马里。还有塞内加尔、喀麦隆、贝宁、多哥和乍得。
A company based in the United States called GrainPro makes another kind of airtight bag. These are called SuperGrainbags. Phil Villers, the company president, says safely storing a harvest not only earns more money for farmers. It also reduces the amount of food lost to insects, spoilage and mishandling.
总部位于美国的一家名为GrainPro的公司则生产了另一种被称为“超级粮袋”的密封袋。该公司总裁菲尔·维勒斯（Phil Villers）表示，安全储藏粮食不仅能让农民赚更多钱，还能减少因昆虫、腐烂、处理不当造成的粮食损失。
PHIL VILLERS: "What does not get wasted and eaten means it is available to feed a hungry world."
维勒斯：“粮食不被浪费，不被虫子吃掉，就意味着能用于养活更多饥饿人口。”
And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. To see what the PICS bag looks like, go to voaspecialenglish.com, where you can also find transcripts and MP3s of our reports. I’m Bob Doughty. |