Genetically engineer bananas-英语听力

[00:00.10]From VOA Learning English, [00:02.13]this is the Agriculture Report. [00:05.11]Today, we take you to a small banana plantation near Kampala. [00:10.84]The trees are healthy and green, [00:14.17]but Andrew Kiggundu does not like what he sees. [00:18.21]"The disease on the leaves you see right now is not the wilt, [00:21.84]it is a different disease called black sigatoka. [00:24.48]It is just killing off the leaves and causing significant yield loss. [00:29.71]This is a big problem, [00:31.11]although of course not as much as the wilt, [00:33.10]because the wilt just destroys the whole plant." [00:35.04]Andrew Kiggundu works with the National Agricultural Research Organization, [00:41.47]also known as NARO. [00:43.36]The Ugandan government agency is developing genetically engineer bananas. [00:49.14]The new plants are meant to resist black sigatoka [00:53.71]and banana bacterial wilt, [00:56.55]which has been destroying a large amounts of the country's banana crop. [01:01.58]Uganda is the world's top consumer of bananas. [01:05.92]NARO Research Director Wilberforce Tushemereirwe says [01:10.72]this is why it is so important to produce healthy plants. [01:15.46]"The disease keeps on moving around wiping out garden after garden, [01:20.94]so you will go to areas where you find they have changed [01:25.27]from banana to annual crops. [01:28.65]That has already introduced food insecurity, [01:31.94]because they are not used to handling annual crops." [01:35.88]The central African nation already permits [01:39.22]testing of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. [01:44.59]Lawmakers are considering a bill [01:47.23]that would permit the development [01:49.17]and distribution of such organisms through out the country. [01:53.25]But some activists say genetically modified organisms [01:58.48]would be dangerous to human health and the environment. [02:02.42]Giregon Olupot is a soil biophysicist at Makerere University in Kampala. [02:10.18]"There are a range of options that risk to be wiped [out], [02:13.97]just by this technology. [02:15.91]With bananas, tissue culture has worked well to engineer healthy plants. [02:22.26]You then take these plants to a clean garden and maintain field hygiene. [02:26.89]Why are we not giving emphasis to that technology?" [02:30.87]Most genetically modified seeds are patented, [02:34.51]this means farmers must purchase them after each planting. [02:39.59]Mr Olupot says, this might be possible for profitable farmers, [02:44.51]but smaller farmers depend on their own seeds. [02:48.44]In his opinion, selling genetically modified seeds [02:52.97]to small farmers could trap them. [02:55.67]"If you are to go commercial, it has to be on a large scale. [02:59.40]Now the farmers we are talking about, [03:01.84]on average, have 0.4 hectares of land. [03:05.57]It is simply not suitable for our farmers." [03:08.61]A public institution is developing Uganda's genetically modified bananas. [03:14.18]NARO says no patent laws will restrict their use. [03:18.91]But Mr Olupot says this would probably not be true [03:23.14]with genetically modified crops introduced to Uganda in future. [03:28.32]Mr Kiggundu says opponents of genetically modified plans [03:32.89]have been strong in their criticisms. [03:35.43]He says many farmers are now afraid of GMOs. [03:40.02]The Ugandan parliament is expected to pass [03:43.16]the Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill before the end of the year. [03:49.03]And that's the Agriculture Report from VOA Learning English.