South American Soya Explosion Threatens Forests - WWF
Date: 06-Sep-04
Country: SWITZERLAND
The Swiss-based WWF said on current trends 54 million acres - the natural habitat of the jaguar and anteater - would be plowed by 2020 and planted with the crop, which is used mainly for animal feed.
Soyabean exports have fueled an economic boom in some underdeveloped areas in South America since cultivation took off in the 1970s.
But the crop has also triggered soil erosion, siltation of waterways, widespread use of toxic chemicals, like pesticides, and road building through some of the world's most delicate natural habitats, it said.
"There is no doubt that soya is indeed a blessing. But it is also, unfortunately, a curse," WWF forestry conservation expert Leonardo Lacerda told a news conference.
The land under soybean cultivation in major producers such as Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay has more than doubled in the past 10 years, boosted by demand from China and Europe, where it is fed to pigs, chicken and cattle.
By 2020, global output is forecast to rise 60 percent with most of it coming from South America. Brazil is already the world's second-largest producer after the United States.
However, by intensifying production on available land, instead of clearing off cheap forestland, and by rotating soy with cattle grazing, farmers will be able to drastically reduce the amount of new land required to lift output, the WWF said.
Up to now, the abundance of cheap land with few inhabitants has offered few incentives to intensify farming techniques close to established roads and towns, leading farmers instead to expand relentlessly into virgin forests and fields.
The WWF called for a meeting of producers, investors, buyers, local authorities and regulators in March next year to discuss ideas for mitigating the loss of one of the world's most precious natural resources.