Soy unemployment boom
In the South American countries of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil, the massive expansion of soy production for export has catastrophic consequences for rural communities and ways of living. Soybean cultivation is most profitable when done in a capital intensive and labour extensive way and has displaced more labour intensive production such as vegetables, cotton, and dairy farming. While large parts of Argentina and Brazil are already covered in soy plantations, it is much less known that Paraguay has become the world’s fourth largest soybean exporter.
In 2006, nearly 2.5 million hectares of soy was sown in Paraguay alone, an area comparable to the German State Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Paraguayan authorities are planning an increase to 4 million hectares. According to the Paraguayan NGO BASE.IS, “…The expansion of mono-cultures “green deserts” such as large scale soy production promotes a mechanised agriculture without small farmers; without people. All mono-cultures are damaging to the ecosystems they supplant; they destroy biological and agricultural diversity, poison water sources and the soil and undermine the food security and sovereignty of the people and their countries. They cause poverty, unemployment and the eviction and exodus of communities in rural areas.”
In Argentina, nearly all soy grown is “RoundupReady” varieties from the biotech multinational Monsanto. This genetically modified soy plant is made resistant to the “kill all” herbicide “Roundup.” It survives intensive spraying while all other plants and weeds around it are killed. The use of this variety is advancing in Paraguay and Brazil as well.
The Unemployment Boom
pig: "Where on earth did I arrive? Looks like a pigsty, excuse my wording. Why are these people living without proper houses, water, or sewerage systems? Without any green space or gardens. Why don't they go and live in the countryside. What force of repression prevents them from having their own farms, land, and roots?"
Almost half of Paraguay's population lives below the poverty line, and 21 % is in extreme poverty. Studies have shown that poverty is higher in the provinces where there is more soy production.
According to a FBOMS report, “Rural and urban poverty increases because besides the expulsion of small farmers from their lands, monoculture hardly creates any jobs. For each 100 hectares, there is 1 job in eucalyptus plantations, 2 for soy, and 10 for sugar cane, while 20 families could make a living in the original agriculture. Faced with no other option, many rural workers move to the city slums.” (1) According to Friends of the Earth Paraguay, approximately 70,000 people leave rural areas each year. In addition, many migrate to neighbouring countries.
Reclaiming the lands
In Paraguay, as well as in other South American countries, the land concentration is extreme: 1% of landowners own 77 % of the land. This incredible concentration of land, plus the lack of opportunities in the cities has led to a growing number of land occupations in Paraguay, especially of public lands that have been illegally sold to soy producers. Organization in the countryside is not easy, but victories do occur. Communities such as the province of Caaguazu, where the organization Movimiento Agrario y Popular (MAP) is active, have managed to control the advance of soy beans into their midst.
However, soy producers respond to this by hiring "security" teams of unemployed rural youths, using them to intimidate peasants that organise themselves. Even governments react with violence and repression. In Paraguay alone, over 30 peasants were killed by government forces in the last 4 years.
more info on www.lasojamata.org
notes:
1.“Agribusiness and biofuels – an explosive mixture. The impacts of monoculture expansion on bioenergy production in Brazil”, Brazilian Forum of NGOs and Social Movements for the Environment and Development (FBOMS), 2006
2. Ken Hetherington: Politics, Education and Restitution: the state of the struggle in Rural Paraguay http://activistmagazine.com/~608
links to:
Soy in numbers http://www.pig8soy.org/en/node/50
WTO for Soy http://www.pig8soy.org/en/node/56
The Structural Adjustment Program Monoculture Drive http://www.pig8soy.org/en/node/57
