VOA慢速英语2013 Agriculture Report - Life Not So Sweet for Nigerian Sugar Farmers

Agriculture Report - Life Not So Sweet for Nigerian Sugar Farmers

农业报道 - 尼日利亚糖农现状艰难

From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report in Special English.

这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。

Farmers in northern Nigeria say their land could be some of the most productive for sugar in West Africa. But they say that productivity is wasted without big local buyers.

尼日利亚北部的农民说，他们的土地可能是西非最具糖类生产力的。但他们表示，由于没有大型的本地收购商，这种生产力被浪费了。

The Nigerian government has a new plan designed to help the local industry. For now, farmers sell sugar cane 1 as snacks on the street while the country imports 97 percent of the sugar it uses.

尼日利亚政府拥有一项旨在帮助当地产业的新计划。目前，农民们在街上把甘蔗当小吃卖，而该国使用的食糖97%依靠进口。

Mallam Usman Abdu Gubuci has five hectares of land. He describes himself as one of the sugar farming "giants" in his area. He says his part of northern Nigeria could be a major supplier of sugar to West Africa. But he says farmers no longer even bother to grow sugar that can be refined.

Mallam Usman Abdu Gubuci拥有五公顷土地。他称自己是当地的糖业巨头之一。他说，他所在的尼日利亚北部能够成为西非主要的食糖供应商。但他表示，农民们甚至懒得种植用于精炼的糖类作物。

“There is special sugar cane for that sugar, which we were introduced with. But when we planted it, no buyer. In other words, no industry to buy it.”

他说，“我们引入过一种用于精炼糖的特种甘蔗。但我们种了后却没有收购商。换句话说，没有哪个行业来收购它。”

Instead, he says, all of his product goes to local markets, and people drink sugar water from the sugar cane stalks. And while these stalks do sell, he says, it is not a business that can grow.

而相反，他所有的产品都进入本地市场，人们喝甘蔗茎榨出来的糖水。而这种甘蔗销售不是一种可以增长的生意。

Last fall, the Nigerian government introduced a plan to decrease sugar imports and boost Nigerian production. The plan includes increasing taxes on imported sugar and giving tax breaks to anyone who wants to invest in local sugar refinement 2. It also calls for no import duties on machinery 3 used for processing sugar. 

去年秋天，尼日利亚政府出台了一项计划以减少糖类进口，并提供尼日利亚自身的产量。该计划包括提高糖类进口税，并给予任何愿意投资本地糖类精炼者以税收减免。此外它还呼吁免除糖类加工机器的进口关税。

Sugar officials say Nigeria spent $620 million on sugar imports in 2012. They do not expect that number to go down immediately.

糖业官员表示，2012年尼日利亚耗资6.2亿美元进口食糖。他们不认为这一数字能够快速下降。

Hajiya Bilkisu Mohammed heads the Association of Women Farmers in northern Nigeria. She says part of the reason local farmers cannot sell sugar for refining is that factories in this part of Nigeria face continual electrical shortages. The factories depend on costly 4 power generators 5.

Hajiya Bilkisu Mohammed负责尼日利亚北部女农协会。她说，当地农民无法卖出精炼用糖的部分原因是尼日利亚该地区的工厂面临持续的电力短缺。这些工厂依赖昂贵的发电机。

Saidu Usman Gwambe is a sugar cane farmer. He says his land could be very profitable, but he is not sure how much longer he can wait for a government rescue.

Saidu Usman Gwambe是甘蔗农民。他说他的土地可能会非常赚钱，但他不知道他还有多少时间等待政府救援。

In recent months the Nigerian government has also announced plans to reduce imports of other food products. In January, President Goodluck Jonathan promised to increase food production by 20 million metric tons by 2015. Doing this, he says, will create 3.5 million jobs and reduce Nigeria’s dependence 6 on imports.

最近几个月，尼日利亚政府还宣布了减少其它食品进口的计划。今年1月，尼日利亚总统古德勒克·乔纳森（Goodluck Jonathan）承诺到2015年增加2000万吨粮食产量。他说，这样做能够创造350万个就业机会，并减少尼日利亚对进口的依赖。