[(Title)] Iraq bans farming summer crops as water crisis grows dire

MISHKHAB, Iraq –  Iraq has banned its farmers from planting summer crops this year as the country grapples with a crippling water shortage that shows few signs of abating.

今年，伊拉克禁止其农民种植夏季作物，因为伊拉克正在努力解决严重的缺水问题，没有多少减少的迹象。

Citing high temperatures and insufficient rains, Dhafer Abdalla, an adviser to Iraq's Ministry of Water Resources, told The Associated Press that the country has only enough water to irrigate half its farmland this summer.

伊拉克水资源部顾问Dhafer Abdalla指出，气温很高，降雨量不足，他说，今年夏季，该国只有足够的水可以灌溉一半的农田。

But farmers fault the government for failing to modernize how it manages water and irrigation, and they blame neighboring Turkey for stopping up the Tigris and Euphrates rivers behind dams it wants to keep building.

但农民们指责政府未能实现水资源和灌溉管理现代化，指责邻国土耳其在要继续修建的坝后拦截底格里斯河和幼发拉底河河。

Water levels across these two vital rivers — which together give Iraq its ancient name, Mesopotamia, the land between the rivers — fell by over 60 percent in two decades, according to a 2012 report by the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization.

联合国粮食及农业组织(UN Food and Agriculture Organization)2012年发布的一份报告显示，这两条重要河流的水平在过去20年中下降了60%以上。

The orders against sowing rice, corn, and other crops this summer came as a shock to the towns and villages in the once fertile plains south of Baghdad, where the local economy depends on farming. Nationwide, one in five Iraqis works in agriculture.

今年 夏天 , 禁止 播种 稻米 、 玉米 和 其他 作物 的 命令 是 对 曾经 是 肥沃 的 巴格达 以南 平原 的 城镇 和 村庄 的 震惊 , 当地 经济 依靠 农业 , 全国 五分之一 的 伊拉克 人 在 农业 方面 工作 。

In Iraq's rice belt, the farmland is cracked and dry.

在伊拉克的稻米带里, 农田被裂开了,干涸了.

"I feel as though my very existence has been shaken," said farmer Akeel Kamil as he surveyed his barren fields in the village of Mishkhab.

“我觉得我的生存受到了震动，”农夫卡米勒在米什哈布村看他的荒野时，说。

His 100 dunams — about 25 acres — last year produced 150 tons of Anbar rice, a strain particular to Iraq that is prized for its gentle, floral aroma.

他的100德南，大约25英亩，去年生产了150吨安巴尔大米，这是伊拉克特有的菌株，以其柔和、花香而著称。

This year, the pumps that would be flooding his fields with water are silent, and the irrigation canal that runs by his property is nearly empty.

今年，水泵会淹到他的田里，他静默不语，他所居住的灌溉渠道几乎空无一人。

Flood irrigation has been used in the area for millennia, though FAO has warned of massive water wastage.

尽管粮农组织警告说，这一地区数千年来一直在使用洪水灌溉，但水资源被大量浪费。

It and other organizations are calling on the Iraqi government to revamp its approach to agriculture and promote more efficient methods including drip and spray irrigation.

它和其他组织呼吁伊拉克政府改变其农业方针，推广更有效的方法，包括滴灌和喷灌。

Iraq's Natural Resources Ministry protests it does not have the budget to do that.

伊拉克自然资源部抗议它没有预算去这样做。

Farmers staged demonstrations against the moratorium. In one instance, they forced the closure of a levee along a branch of the Euphrates River to let the water levels rise for irrigation.

农民举行了反对暂停示威游行，有一次，他们强迫关闭幼发拉底河一处堤坝，以便使水位上升灌溉。

They demand the government secure more water from Turkey, fill the country's reservoirs, and drill into the nation's aquifers.

他们要求政府从土耳其获得更多水，填补该国的水库，并钻入国家的含水层。

"When we protested, no one listened to us. Then we closed the levee, and the police came and the politicians started calling us vandals. Is this how a government behaves with its people?" said Mahdi al-Mhasen, a 48-year-old farmhand in Mishkhab.

米什哈布一个48岁的农夫马赫迪·姆哈森说：“我们抗议时，没有人听从我们，然后我们关上了堤坝，警察来了，于是政客们开始叫我们破坏，这是政府如何对待人民的？”

The rumblings here will be heard in Baghdad. South Iraq is the popular base of the Shiite blocs that have led Iraqi governments since Saddam Hussein was deposed in 2003.

伊拉克南部是什叶派的基地，自2003年萨达姆·侯赛因被推翻以来一直领导伊拉克政府的。

The rice belt hugs Najaf, Shiite Islam's holiest city, where theologians and politicians have powerful influence.

稻田拥抱了什叶派伊斯兰教最神圣的城市纳杰夫，在那里，神学家和政治家有着强大的影响力。

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest Shiite authority in Iraq, castigated lawmakers, telling the government it must help farmers and modernize irrigation and agriculture.

伊拉克最高什叶派权力机构大阿亚图拉阿里·锡斯坦尼谴责立法者，告诉政府必须帮助农民实现灌溉和农业现代化。

In response to the pressure, the government said it reversed its ban on rice farming.

为了应对这一压力，政府表示它逆转了对稻米种植的禁令。

But Agriculture Ministry spokesman Hameed al-Naief told the AP that only 5,000 dunams (1,236 acres) of irrigated land could be allocated to the crop this summer, less than 3 percent of the area permitted last year.

但农业部发言人哈米德·纳伊夫告诉美援署，今年夏季，灌溉土地中只有5,000德南（1,236英亩）可用于农业，不到去年许可的面积的3%。

The impact of waning water resources is clear around Mishkhab. Local divers and river patrols say their branch of the Euphrates is far shallower than it was this time last year.

当地潜水员和河流巡逻人员表示，他们幼发拉底河支部的面积比去年同期要低得多。

Green scum collects under bridges where the water has stagnated and fishing boats are stranded on the river bed.

水停滞、渔船搁在河床上搁浅的桥梁下收集绿色水渣。

Earlier this summer, video on social media showed the water levels of the Tigris River so low that Iraqis in Baghdad were crossing it on foot.

今年夏季早些时候，社会媒体的视频显示底格里斯河水位很低，巴格达的伊拉克人正步行穿越。

About 70 percent of Iraq's water supplies flow in from upstream countries. Turkey is siphoning off an ever-growing share of the Tigris and Euphrates to feed its growing population in a warming climate.

伊拉克约70%的水供应来自上游国家，土耳其正在从底格里斯河和幼发拉底河中抽取日益增长的份额，以便在气候变暖的情况下养活日益增长的人口。

And it is building new dams that will further squeeze water availability in Iraq.

而且，伊拉克正在建造新的水坝，这将进一步挤压水的供应。

Syria is expected to start drawing more water off the Euphrates once it emerges from the yearslong civil war.

一旦从长达一年的内战中浮出水面，叙利亚将会开始从幼发拉底河汲取更多的水力。

Turkey started filling its giant Ilisu Dam upstream in June, then paused the operation until July after pleas from Baghdad.

6月份，土耳其开始在上游填补其巨型伊里斯杜水坝，然后暂停作业，直至7月份才从巴格达呼吁。

Iraq's Water Resources Ministry says it has enough water behind the Mosul Dam to guarantee adequate flow for a year, but experts say the Ilisu could take up to three years to fill, depending on rains.

伊拉克水资源部说，摩苏尔水坝后备有足够水源，可以保证一年有足够水流，但专家说，伊里斯库可能需要三年时间来填补，这取决于下雨。

The last moratorium on farming rice came in 2009, but that year farmers were permitted to grow other crops to shore up their income. This year, there is no such reprieve.

上一次暂停种植水稻的做法是在2009年，但是那一年，农民被允许种植其他农作物来增加收入，而今年则不存在这样的缓期措施。

Though it is OPEC's third largest oil producer, Iraq, unlike Saudi Arabia, does not distribute revenues to the general population.

尽管伊拉克是欧佩克第三大石油生产国，但伊拉克与沙特阿拉伯不同，没有向普通民众分配收入。

Farmers in Mishkhab say they have little to fall back on with the loss of the summer season's income.

米什哈巴的农民们表示，由于夏季的收入损失，他们几乎没有什么可回溯。

Families that depend on credit to cover their expenses during the growing season are afraid their lenders — shop owners, mechanics, even friends — won't lend to them this year because they know the rice harvest has been cancelled.

依赖信贷支付增长季节开支的家庭担心他们的放贷者、店主、机械师、甚至朋友今年不会借给他们，因为他们知道大米收成已被取消。

"What will happen to our lands?" asked Kamil, the 42-year-old farmer. "Should we leave them? Should we move to the cities?"

42岁的农民Kamil问：“我们的土地会发生什么？”我们应该离开他们？我们是否应该搬到城市去？