Plant Clinics Taking Root in East Africa

农作物诊所在东非扎根

From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。

Crop disease continues to be a problem for farmers everywhere. The non-profit Center for Agriculture and Biosciences International(CABI) says pests and diseases destroy up to 40 percent of the food grown worldwide.

农作物病害仍然是世界各地农民面临的一大难题。非盈利性的国际农业和生物科学中心表示，病虫害破坏了全球范围内种植的40%以上的食物。

The center based in Britain is trying to change that with a crop protection program, the program is called Plantwise. In the past three years, Plantwise has trained almost one thousand so-called plant doctors in 24 countries, one of those countries is Uganda.

这家总部设在英国的科学中心正试图通过一个被称为Plantwise的农作物保护项目改变这一现状。在过去三年，Plantwise项目已经在24个国家培养了近千名所谓的农作物医生，乌干达就是这些国家之一。

Recently, plant doctor Daniel Lyazi set up a table under a small tent, join market day in Mukono, the village is about 15 kilometers from Kampala, the capital.

近日，农作物医生Daniel Lyazi在一个小帐篷下摆了张桌子，参加Mukono村的赶集日。该村距离首都坎帕拉约为15公里。

People brought samples of diseased plants to his clinic. One farmer brought cabbage covered in slime. Nothing can be done to save his cabbages this year, but Daniel Lyazi's advice may save the next season's crop.

人们带着病株样本来到他的诊所。一位农民带着被粘液覆盖的白菜。今年救不了他的白菜了，但Daniel Lyazi的建议可能会挽救下一季的作物。

"So he's telling me there's a small caterpillar which eats [the cabbages] starting from the youngest leaf. He's told me that the whole garden has been attacked and affected by this caterpillar. So according to me, I know that it's a diamondback moth."

他说，“他告诉我，有一种小毛虫从最嫩的叶子开始吃白菜，整个菜园都受到了这种毛虫的侵袭和影响。据我所知，这是菜蛾。”

The farmer has been using an insecticide but Mr Lyazi says the chemical is the wrong one.

这位农民一直在用一种杀虫剂，但Lyazi先生告诉他用错农药了。

"It's tolerant - it doesn't kill the diamondback moth caterpillar. So I'm recommending him to use another insecticide called Fenkill, and in another planting season he should plant with onions. Onions can repel (the caterpillar) and he can get income."

“它不能消灭这种菜蛾毛虫。所以我建议他使用另一种被称为Fenkill的杀虫剂。到了下个种植季，他应该和洋葱间种。洋葱可以击退这种毛虫，他就能够赚到钱。”

He advises the farmer to plant onions between the rows of cabbages as an additional measure of protection. The clinic lasts about three hours, in that time Daniel Lyazi advises about 20 farmers. The clinic takes place twice-a-month, it started last year.

他建议这位农民在白菜的菜垄之间种植洋葱，作为一种额外的防护措施。该诊所持续大约三个小时，在这段时间里，Daniel Lyazi为大约20位农民提供了建议。该诊所始于去年，每月开设两次。

The Plantwise program says there are now about 90 of these clinics in Uganda, this year donors spent close to $300,000 training plant doctors and expanding the system in the country.

Plantwise项目表示，乌干达目前有大约90家这种诊所，今年捐助者花了近30万美元培训农作物医生，并在该国扩大该系统的规模。

Joseph Mulema coordinates the Plantwise program in Uganda and Zambia. He argues that plant clinics are a far more effective way to get advice to farmers than the traditional model. In the traditional model, agricultural extension workers visit farms.

约瑟夫·穆莱马（Joseph Mulema）负责协调乌干达和赞比亚的Plantwise项目。他认为农作物诊所在向农民提供建议方面比传统模式更为有效。在传统模式中，农业推广人员下到农场。

"Plant clinics can help so many farmers in a very short time. In fact, more farmers are seen in a plant clinic session, if good mobilization is done, than actually an extension officer can look at in an entire month."

他说，“农作物诊所可以在很短时间内帮助这么多农民。事实上如果动员得好，农作物诊所比农业推广人员一个月接帮助的农民还多。”

Robert Karyeija is a crop protection officer for the government. He says training plant doctors has been very important, this is because even though there were thousands of agricultural extension workers, they just didn't know enough.

Robert Karyeija是政府的一位农作物保护官员。他说，培训农作物医生一直非常重要，这是因为即使有数千名农技推广人员，他们也所知有限。”

"They were there. But the problem [was] they would be general agriculturalists who knew agronomy but didn't know much about pests and diseases."

他说，“他们一直都在。但问题是，他们是普通农学家，懂得农学，但对病虫害不太懂。”

Since 2010, The Center for Agriculture and Biosciences International has set up Plantwise clinics in 12 African countries - nine of them in East Africa and three in West Africa.

自2010年以来，国际农业和生物科学中心已经在12个非洲国家设立了Plantwise诊所，其中9个国家在东非，3个在西非。