A British ban on the plant affects Kenyan business and economy

歌曲 A British ban on the plant affects Kenyan business and economy
歌手 英语听力
专辑 VOA慢速英语:农业报道

歌词

[00:00.100] This is the Agriculture Report.
[00:02.850] Kenyan farmers say
[00:04.650] a British ban on the plant known as khat
[00:08.190] will seriously affect their business and economy.
[00:12.530] Exports of khat, also called "miraa"
[00:15.960] are worth big money to Kenya.
[00:18.750] The farmers have exported the plant mainly to Britain,
[00:23.090] other European countries and Somalia.
[00:26.970] Khat is growing in the colder climates of central Kenya.
[00:31.810] For years, people have been using it as a drug,
[00:36.290] biting on the leaves of the plant,
[00:39.070] can increase the heart beat
[00:41.420] and make the person feel more awake.
[00:44.560] Some Kenyan politicians and khat traders
[00:47.790] have called on the government to open talks
[00:50.890] with British officials to convince them to cancel the ban on khat.
[00:56.210] They say ending the ban would save Kenya's khat industry from collapse.
[01:03.170] Kipkorir Menjo is the director of the Kenya Farmers Association,
[01:08.990] he says the ban will affect tens of thousands of people.
[01:13.470] "The miraa industry is going to face a serious challenge
[01:17.660] because they are people in the supply chain,
[01:19.900] the farmers who are planting the crop,
[01:22.290] fellows who have been distributing,
[01:24.530] fellows who have been exporting.
[01:25.770] The whole industry is likely to collapse
[01:27.670] because this is a major market
[01:30.610] which has been earning this people good money,
[01:33.690] of course also earning the country foreign exchange."
[01:36.330] Earlier this month,
[01:37.880] British Home Secretary Theresa May banned the leafy stimulant.
[01:43.560] She warned that traders could use Britain
[01:46.640] to move khat illegally to other European countries.
[01:51.520] Jephat Muroko is the head of the Global Miraa Industry Dealers Network,
[01:58.250] he says the British's decision was made for political reasons.
[02:03.570] "To me it's a pure politics,
[02:05.320] and not only politics but also oppressive to the miraa industry traders.
[02:11.780] I think it's part of the consequences.
[02:14.880] But I wonder about our government, why it's quiet about this thing."
[02:19.520] Khat is already banned in most European countries,
[02:24.060] including France, Germany, and Netherlands.
[02:28.090] Kenyan traders exported about 20 tons of khat
[02:32.190] to the Netherlands weekly before the ban.
[02:36.230] Another 36 tons a week were sent to Britain.
[02:40.720] Kipkorir Menjo says khat farmers and traders
[02:45.200] need to start speaking up, so that Britain can lift the ban.
[02:50.020] If their efforts fail, he says,
[02:53.500] they will have to start planting other crops to earn money.
[02:58.090] "If there will be no headway then they will have to think for other options,
[03:01.970] but I think for now I don't want to conclude that nobody will listen to them.
[03:05.750] Hopefully they will get some way out,
[03:08.190] but if it's not possible they will have to think
[03:10.630] some other ways of getting their livelihood."
[03:13.080] As the farmers and traders study the latest development from Europe,
[03:17.740] another battle awaits them inside Kenya:
[03:21.790] The National Authority for the Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse
[03:27.160] is urging the government to list khat as an illegal drug.
[03:32.980] And that's the Agriculture Report from VOA Learning English.