Getting Farmers Back to the Land in D.R.C.

Getting Farmers Back to the Land in D.R.C.
Congolese left productive fields behind as they fled war. Now, international efforts aim to renew agriculture and reduce hunger. Transcript of radio broadcast:
20 October 2008

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

The Food and Agriculture Organization recently reported that hunger increased by seventy-five million people last year. The United Nations agency blamed rising prices for food, fuel and fertilizer.

The F.A.O. estimates that in two thousand seven, the world had nine hundred twenty-three million undernourished people.

Among them are most of the people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The D.R.C. has a population estimated in July at sixty-six million. The Food and Agriculture Organization says seven out of ten of them do not get the food they need.

The D.R.C. is huge. The central African country has about seven million hectares of productive land. Yet only about one million hectares are used for permanent crops.

Farmers fled their land after civil war began in nineteen ninety-eight. Five years of conflict, hunger and disease killed four million people.

Now, five years have passed since that war officially ended. But hundreds of thousands of people in the D.R.C. remain homeless. And there is continued unrest, mostly in the east.

In the southern province of Katanga, however, there is a tense, sometimes shaky peace. Four hundred fifty thousand people returned to Katanga by the middle of this year. The F.A.O. says many plan to farm and fish again.

International organizations are working to get farmers back on their land.

The Food and Agriculture Organization has more than two hundred workers involved in the effort. They travel around to supply seeds, tools and animals. They also provide supervision and training to support farming and fishing.

The agency says its fifty million dollar program has assisted about two million men, women and children in the last three years.

Former colonial ruler Belgium and the European Commission are supporting the program. Commission projects officer Patrick Houben says big companies will not invest in small-scale farming. But he says the only way to renew agriculture is to begin with small farmers.

Other groups and countries including the United States are also supporting the program.

Joachim von Braun is director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington. He said in Kinshasa recently that the D.R.C. has strong possibilities for agriculture and that making use of them could reduce poverty fast.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Bob Doughty.
----------------------------Google Translate

办理农民回到土地D.R.C.
刚果离开生产领域的落后作为他们逃离战争。现在，国际社会努力的目标是恢复农业和减少饥饿。全文电台广播：
08年10月20日

这是美国之音特别英语农业部报告。

粮食和农业组织最近报告说，饥饿增加七千五百万人去年。联合国机构认为价格上涨的粮食，燃料和肥料。

粮农组织估计，在2000七年，世界发生了92300.0万人营养不良。

其中大多数人在刚果民主共和国。该D.R.C.人口估计在7月六千六百万。粮食及农业组织说， 7人10人没有得到他们所需要的粮食。

该D.R.C.是巨大的。中部非洲国家大约7万公顷的肥沃土地。然而，只有约100万公顷的土地用于长期作物。

农民逃离自己的土地后，内战始于1998年。五年来的冲突，饥饿和疾病，造成4万人。

现在，五年已经过去了，战争正式结束。但是，成千上万的人在D.R.C.仍然无家可归。有持续动荡，主要是在东部地区。

在南部加丹加省，然而，有一种紧张，有时甚至摇摇欲坠的和平。四百年5.0万人返回了加丹加省在今年年中。该F.A.O.说，许多计划，农场和鱼了。

国际组织正努力让农民回到他们的土地上。

粮食和农业组织已超过200工人参与的努力。他们周游供应种子，工具和动物。它们还提供了监督和培训，以支持农业和渔业。

该机构表示，其5000.0万美元的计划已协助约200万男人，妇女和儿童在过去三年中。

前殖民统治者比利时和欧洲委员会都支持该计划。项目委员会主任帕特里克侯本说，大公司将不会投资于小规模耕种。但是他说，唯一途径就是延长农业开始与小农民。

其他团体和国家，包括美国也支持该计划。

约阿希姆冯布劳恩是总干事的国际粮食政策研究所在华盛顿举行。他说，在金沙萨最近， D.R.C.具有很强的可能性为农业和使用，使他们可以快速减少贫困。

，这是美国之音特别英语农业部报告，写的Jerilyn沃森。我鲍勃道蒂。