2006年VOA标准英语-Aid Agency, Government Work to Improve Foo

By Cathy Majtenyi
Mekele
21 March 2006

The northern Ethiopian region, Tigray, is plagued with inconsistent rainfall, environmental degradation¹, poor quality soils and other problems, making the area prone² to food insecurity. But innovative³ programs being carried out by an aid agency and government aim to ensure that poor farmers, in particular, are able to grow enough food to eat and even sell despite the bleak⁴ conditions. Cathy Majtenyi visited Tigray recently and files this report for VOA.

-------------------------------------------------

Letesilase Gebrehiwot picks hops⁵ berries from one of five semi-circle terraces she built on her farm in Tigray  
  

Letesilase Gebrehiwot is picking hops berries on her farm in a picturesque⁶ village near the regional capital, Mekele. As she does so, she recalls what farm life was like, in the past.

She says if the rainy seasons were good, they would have good yields. But during the drought years, they had problems and had to depend on food aid and sell most of their cattle to pay for food. She says that after they sold their cattle, the family moved from town to town looking for food.

Letesilase and her family returned to the area. Three years ago, she and her neighbors began attending seminars held by the German aid agency GTZ and the government's Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development, in which they learned how to build an enclosure called a "semi-circle terrace."

The structure consists of a stone wall, about two or three feet high, built in the shape of a big smile, with the open end facing the nearby hill. Different plants grow within the enclosure.

Letesilase built five of these on her farm, and is now growing hops, guava, pepper, cabbage, Swiss chard and tomatoes. She is able to feed herself, her husband and their five children from once-bare, dry land and has recently purchased some cattle.

The watershed⁷ management expert at GTZ's Tigray office, Gebreegziabher Lemma, explains that semi-circle terraces trap run-off water and moisture coming from the nearby hills and stop the soil from being washed away into gullies during the rainy season, where rainfalls can be erratic⁸ and very forceful.

He says crops can be grown all year around, even when conditions are very dry - provided that there is minimum rainfall during the June-to-August rainy season.

"I think the nutrition status of the farmers also improved," he said. "Before, they used only these pulses and cereals for household consumption. Now they are using vegetables in their home consumptions. That's why their children are now becoming strong for learning. They are getting also additional income from the vegetable sale and access for this education due to that additional income."

GTZ and the government are also helping⁹ to build shallow wells, tanks to trap and hold rainwater, irrigation canals and other water-harvesting technologies. Most of the 150 households participating in the joint¹⁰ GTZ-government semi-circle terrace pilot project are able to water their plants using water from these sources.

Farmer Desta Mihretu shows off a semi-circle terrace in Tigray  
  
The semi-circle terraces, water harvesting technologies and other environmental rehabilitation¹¹ and conservation initiatives being carried out by GTZ are part of the regional and federal government's wider effort to ensure food security in drought-prone Tigray.

Three years ago, the regional government launched a program called the Comprehensive Community and Household Asset Building Approach, in which 370,000 low-income rural households can choose what is known as a "household package" to improve their food situation.

Each package, which number about 60 in total, contains a combination of farming or other income-generating activities such as growing cereals, pulses, and other crops; livestock¹² ranching¹³; beekeeping; dairy production; or raising poultry¹⁴.

A credit scheme enables farmers to take out loans with low interest and flexible re-payment schedules to support the packages they select. The government and aid agencies such as GTZ provide training, technical support and, in some cases, materials.

Berhane Hailu is deputy head of the Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development for the Tigray regional government.

He explains why food security is such a major concern in his region and country.

"Unless our people are food secured and alleviate¹⁵ poverty - it's a question of survival - we cannot live as a country, as people; we cannot live peacefully," he said. "And, we have limited time for this. We cannot be relaxed. We cannot beg the international [community] every year that Ethiopia [is] affected¹⁶ by famine, please give us this amount of grain and so on. People will be fed up. So we have to look [for] our own solutions, and that is food security and poverty alleviation¹⁷ based on our own basic resources."
 

Children stand among semi-circle terraces in village near Mekele, the regional capital of Tigray  
  
Berhane says three years ago his government conducted a survey that found that 80 percent of Tigray's rural households lived below the poverty line. He says that his office is conducting another survey now. He thinks there has been a significant improvement in the region's food security.

Tigray also falls under the federal government's Productive Safety Net Program. In its second year, the initiative provides low-income households with cash, food, food-for-work programs and other assistance based on the beneficiaries' circumstances.

1 degradation   

n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变

参考例句：

• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。
• Gambling is always coupled with degradation.赌博总是与堕落相联系。

2 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

3 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

4 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

5 hops   

跳上[下]( hop的第三人称单数 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• The sparrow crossed the lawn in a series of hops. 那麻雀一蹦一跳地穿过草坪。
• It is brewed from malt and hops. 它用麦精和蛇麻草酿成。

6 picturesque   

adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的

参考例句：

• You can see the picturesque shores beside the river.在河边你可以看到景色如画的两岸。
• That was a picturesque phrase.那是一个形象化的说法。

7 watershed   

n.转折点，分水岭，分界线

参考例句：

• Our marriage was at a watershed.我们的婚姻到了一个转折关头。
• It forms the watershed between the two rivers.它成了两条河流的分水岭。

8 erratic   

adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• The old man had always been cranky and erratic.那老头儿性情古怪,反复无常。
• The erratic fluctuation of market prices is in consequence of unstable economy.经济波动致使市场物价忽起忽落。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

11 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

12 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

13 ranching   

adj.放牧的

参考例句：

• They cleared large tracts of forest for farming, logging and ranching. 他们清除了大片的森林以经营农耕、采伐与畜牧。
• This is a trade center in a ranching and oil-producing region. 这是一个牧场与产油区的贸易中心。

14 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

15 alleviate   

v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等)

参考例句：

• The doctor gave her an injection to alleviate the pain.医生给她注射以减轻疼痛。
• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。

16 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

17 alleviation   

n. 减轻，缓和，解痛物

参考例句：

• These were the circumstances and the hopes which gradually brought alleviation to Sir Thomas's pain. 这些情况及其希望逐渐缓解了托马斯爵士的痛苦。
• The cost reduction achieved in this way will benefit patients and the society in burden alleviation. 集中招标采购降低的采购成本要让利于患者，减轻社会负担。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语