Resistance to soy monoculture expansion in Colonia Barbero (Paraguay)

[Laia, 18 Spain 7 September 2017 at 11:09 Post count: 0]

#3246 Reply |

The rural community of Colonia Barbero is struggling against the expansion of soybean monocultures, which employ almost no local labour while using strong agrochemicals and polluting neighbouring plantations. There are 3000 potentially affected people.
DAP is a company which says to produce “Responsible Soy” as defined by the RTRS (Roundtable on Responsible Soy). However, peasants employed by DAP have complained about the irregularity of their contracts and the preference to employ foreign labourers despite the initial promises and regulations set by RTRS. DAP has been using the GM seeds in order to enable spraying and the peasants complain about the negative effects that pesticides have on their health, other crops and livestock. DAP has responded with an attempt to encourage small-scale farmers to try out their industrial agricultural techniques using mechanization. However, due to the lack of experience, the peasants ended up in high debts after bad harvests which increased vulnerability of smallholders.
Mechanization has also led to several social and environmental problems, such as water pollution, soil depletion, contamination of neighbouring plots growing organic produce, etc.
A committee was formed at the “La Fortuna” property in 2006 with the aim to oppose the establishment of soybean monocultures. They sent letters and documents in order to protest against the settlement of DAP in the area. There was also a demonstration in the capital of San Pedro. In addition, a camp was established at the entrance of the state to protest against the use of agrochemicals by the company.
However, the local government ignored the protests and let DAP enter the area. Fumigation has taken place repeatedly, which led to complaints by the local peasants regarding dead animals, children´s health and pollution of neighbouring plots. Environmental laws have been violated several times. There is a municipal regulation since 2012 that protects 30 different communities as “agroecological zones”. One of them is located in Colonia Barbero. The regulation prohibits the utilization of agrochemicals and GMOs as well as cutting trees growing next to water streams.
A group of smallholders produced organic Marian that was sold to European markets. However, in 2015 the export was suspended because the traces of agrochemicals had been found. The smallholders suspected that the pollution came from fumigation in surrounding monocultures. They also hold responsible local authorities for the lack of implementation of municipal regulations.
It is estimated that nowadays around 95% of the soy produced in Paraguay is GM resistant to herbicides. The government has favoured foreign investment in the agricultural sector through the construction of infrastructure and low tax system. Soy occupies more than 2,6 million ha in the country, causing deforestation, displacement of rural communities, soy depletion and pollution of the environment derived from the use of pesticides. Most of the Paraguayan soy is exported to Europe, where it is mainly used as animal feed. The rest is used to make biofuels, cooking oil and other food products.

[Author]

Posts