Thursday Night Talk

dublin | environment | event notice Tuesday February 05, 2008 12:06 by events officer - LASC info at lasc dot ie 5 Merrion Row, Dublin 2 016760435

SOYA PLANTATIONS IN PARAGUAY FOR PRODUCTION OF BIO FUELS

The impact of the monocultivation of Soya has had a disastrous impact on the majority of the population of Paraguay, a significant proportion of whom live below the poverty line. As Soya farmers move in, small farmers have been violently displaced from their land or forced to abandon it as the agrochemicals used to cultivate Soya destroy their crops and have serious implications on their health. Those who have stayed on the land and resist, face repression and death threats. But where else can they go? What else can they do?

Speaker: Fionuala Cregan.
Fionuala has recently returned from Paraguay where she visited a number of rural communities suffering the impact of Soya production. She will give an overview of this impact and also look at the efforts of communities to resist it. In view of current EU debates around bio fuel, this talk is timely and not to be missed!!!
Despite being one of the smallest countries in Latin America, Paraguay is now the world's fourth largest exporter of soya for the production of bio fuel. 64 per cent of cultivated land now consists of soy plantations. The Government plans to continue to increase this figure thus ensuring that Paraguay is rapidly transformed into a green desert controlled by seed companies such as Monsanto.
The impact of the monocultivation of Soya has had a disastrous impact on the majority of the population of Paraguay, a significant proportion of whom live below the poverty line. As Soya farmers move in, small farmers have been violently displaced from their land or forced to abandon it as the agrochemicals used to cultivate Soya destroy their crops and have serious implications on their health. Those who have stayed on the land and resist, face repression and death threats. But where else can they go? What else can they do?
The main issues are:
• Environmental destruction (rate of deforestation in both countries is higher than the overall world rate, up to 80% deforestation in certain parts of Argentina in the past 5 years)
• Health risk to communities living nearby due to intense fertilisation - there have been 2 deaths of young children in Paraguay due to toxic poisoning.
• Food security - 5 million hectares of land in Paraguay now dedicated to Soya production and government wants to increase this to 8, meaning not only that internal food production has dropped significantly but that campesinos are being pushed from their land and living in in shanty towns or on infertile land.