疫情影響土豆出口 比利時人被要求多吃薯條

受新冠肺炎疫情影響，比利時土豆嚴重過剩，因爲加工廠的冷凍能力有限，多達75萬噸的土豆“無處可去”。爲了解決土豆危機，比利時人被敦促多吃薯條和冷凍土豆產品。

When you read the headline 'Belgians urged to eat more fries' you may think it's a joke, but in Belgium, it was a serious request.

當你看到標題“比利時人被要求多吃薯條”，你可能會以爲這是個玩笑，但在比利時，這是一個認真的請求。

The country's potato industry has been hit hard by COVID-19. When the virus began shutting down Italy, Spain and eventually Belgium, the crisis was in full swing, according to Romain Cools, the Secretary-General of Belgapom, which oversees Belgium's potato trade and processing industry.

比利時的土豆產業遭到了新冠疫情的強烈衝擊。比利時土豆貿易和加工行業監管機構Belgapom的祕書長羅曼·庫爾斯稱，一開始病毒令意大利、西班牙採取封鎖措施，最後比利時也進入封鎖狀態，導致土豆產業出現全面危機。

He tells ABC News' "Perspective Podcast" the country has a giant surplus of potatoes, caused by the shutdown of the food service sector since about 70% of the potatoes in Belgium are consumed out of the home.

庫爾斯告訴美國廣播公司新聞部視角播客欄目說，食品服務部門停業導致比利時的土豆產量嚴重過剩，因爲該國約70%的土豆出口國外。

"We are talking about 750,000 tons of potatoes in Belgium alone, which is about 30,000 trucks full of potatoes in a row. These potatoes, they have no market, they have no consumption," said Cools.

庫爾斯說：“光是在比利時，就有75萬噸土豆，可以裝滿約3萬輛卡車。這些土豆沒有市場，也沒有人購買。”

In his more than 30 years in the industry, Cools has never seen a surplus like this one and he is worried it might affect future seasons, including one that will start in a few weeks.

在他從業三十多年的時間裏，庫爾斯從未見過如此嚴重的土豆過剩。他擔心這可能會影響未來的土豆生產季，包括幾周後即將開始的下一個土豆生產季。

"We are finding solutions to prolong the potato season till August, so people who can store potatoes till August, they will store them. Of course, that will affect next season. The question is, will there be enough place to process these potatoes? And how will that also affect the crop of next year?" Cools said.

庫爾斯說：“我們在尋找將土豆季延長到八月的方法，這樣有能力把土豆儲存到八月份的人們就會儲存土豆。當然，這會影響下一個土豆季。問題是，是否會有足夠的地方來加工這些土豆？又會對明年的土豆產生什麼影響？”

He has been thinking of ways to increase the consumption of potatoes, one of the main staples of Belgian food, including eating more fries.

他正在思索增加土豆消費量的辦法，包括讓人們吃更多薯條。土豆是比利時的主食之一。

The idea came to him after a Belgian journalist asked what Belgians can do to help out.

一位比利時記者問他比利時人可以幫忙做些什麼時，他便產生了這一想法。

"I just said from the heart, 'you could help us by just buying, and eating, extra time frozen potato products during the coronavirus crisis,'" said Cools.

庫爾斯說：“我發自內心地說：‘你們只要在疫情危機期間買和吃加時冷凍土豆產品就可以幫到我們’。”

He says the request is serious due to the impact shutdowns are having on his industry.

他說，這是一個認真的請求，因爲封鎖對土豆產業的影響真的很大。

"We are not only facing problems for our potato growers, but also our processing industry. They are processing these potatoes, which they promised to take from the farmers, but they have a lack of freezing capacity at this moment," said Cools.

庫爾斯說：“不僅是我們的土豆種植者面臨問題，我們的加工產業也面臨問題。他們正在加工這些承諾從農民手中收購的土豆，但他們現在的冷凍能力不夠了。”

Cools is worried farmers and processors may have to throw away potatoes, but he says they may be able to avoid that scenario with the help of Too Good to Go, an app that sells unsold food that would have become waste.

庫爾斯擔心農民和加工商可能得把（多餘的）土豆扔掉，但他表示在Too Good to Go應用的幫助下，他們也許能避免這一場面。該應用出售本來可能被浪費掉的滯銷食物。

"At this moment, we are really working on a campaign with the supermarkets in Belgium to ask consumers to buy extra time frozen potato products," Cools said.

庫爾斯說：“目前我們正在與比利時的超市合作發起一場宣傳活動，請求消費者購買加時冷凍土豆產品。”

He's also working with the government of the Flemish region of Belgium to give potatoes that would have gone to waste to food banks across the country.

他還和比利時佛蘭德區的政府合作，把原本可能會被浪費掉的土豆送給世界各地的食品銀行。