This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。
Today we continue telling about a report by three geography experts from American colleges. They studied food security in Gambia, Ivory Coast and Mali over thirty years.
今天，我们继续讲述三名美国大学地理学家所做的一份报告。他们研究了冈比亚，象牙海岸和马里30多年的粮食安全问题。
In the nineteen eighties, governments and lenders like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund changed market policies. They launched free markets designed to improve agriculture. The report, however, suggests that the changes caused loss of important support systems for farmers.
在19世纪80年代，政府和世界银行，国际货币基金组织等借贷机构转变了市场政策。他们推出了旨在促进农业发展的自由市场体系。然而，该报告表明，政策的转变使农民失去了重要的支持体系。
Private investment in agriculture largely replaced government help. In some places, roads and mills built to help farmers fell into ruin. Protectionist import taxes and farm supports were cut.
农业方面的私人投资很大程度上取代了政府扶持。在某些地方，用于扶持农民的道路和加工厂遭到了破坏，保护主义的进口关税和农业扶持均被削减。
Farmers planted more of their best crops, or "cash crops," for export. They planted fewer food crops for local use. Less costly rice came into the ports of Gambia and Ivory Coast. Many city people in those countries liked the cheap rice more than rice grown locally.
农民们更多地种植用于出口的“经济作物”，而减少了当地所需的粮食作物的种植。成本更低的大米涌入冈比亚和象牙海岸的港口。相对于当地种植的大米，这些国家的许多市民更喜欢这种进口的廉价大米。
Researcher Judith Carney works at the University of California at Los Angeles. She said buying the cheaper imported rice worked well until the worldwide food crisis of two thousand eight. Then, many people could not pay for an important part of their diet.
Judith Carney研究员在加州大学洛杉矶分校工作。她表示，购买这种廉价的进口大米一直进展顺利，直到2008年世界粮食危机爆发。当时，许多人无力购买他们每日必需的食物。
Researcher Laurence Becker of Oregon State University said some local farmers stopped farming. Food production fell and unemployment rose.
俄勒冈州立大学的研究人员Laurence Becker表示，一些当地农民停止耕种，粮食产量下降，失业率上升。
The researchers said people in Mali were able to deal better with the food crisis. Mali's farmers supplied more of their nation's rice needs than the other two countries studied. And the poorest people in Malian cities ate sorghum instead of rice.
研究人员表示，马里人民能更好地应对粮食危机，马里农民比其他两个国家更能满足国内的粮食需求。此外马里贫困市民食用高梁，而不是大米。
William Moseley of Macalester College in Minnesota led the report. Professor Moseley said Malian farmers had planted more sorghum because the price of their cotton, a cash crop, had dropped.
明尼苏达州麦克莱斯特学院的William Moseley领导了这项研究。Moseley教授表示，由于经济作物棉花的价格下降，马里农民种植了更多高梁。
Unlike Ivory Coast and Gambia, Mali has no seaports. He said this is often seen as a problem for Mali. But it caused them to depend less on imported rice.
与象牙海岸和冈比亚不同，马里没有海港。他说，这经常被视为马里的一个问题。但这却让他们更少地依赖进口大米。
Based on their research, the experts suggest that farmers plant a variety of crops and not just depend on rice. They also say governments could place some trade barriers. And, they urge that mills and roads be built or rebuilt to process and carry grains to market.
基于他们的研究，专家们建议农民种植各种作物，不要太依赖大米。他们还表示政府应该设置一些贸易壁垒。此外，他们还呼吁重建道路和加工厂，对谷物进行深加工后推向市场。
And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Steve Ember.
这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道，是由Jerilyn Watson撰写，Steve Ember为您报道的。