Bolivian farmers crushed by drought and debt

By Yolanda Salazar Cuatro Cañadas — Farmers in the eastern Bolivian region of Santa Cruz, one of the country’s main agricultural areas, are feeling desperate about the debt incurred by their crop losses this summer due to the drought affecting the east and the flooding of rivers to the north.

This is the third straight year that both small and large producers of Santa Cruz have been affected by climate change, which has sent their earnings plummeting due to the unusually meager harvests, and has left them with no clear idea about their future.

During a recent visit to municipalities in the north and east of the Santa Cruz region promoted by the Bolivian Foreign Trade Institute (IBCE), it was easy to see how hard the crops were hit, particularly the soybeans.

The president of the Chamber of Small Farmers of the East (Cappo), Isidoro Barrientos, told EFE that they are “desperate” about the debts that many members have piled up over the last three months with financial institutions and trading firms in order to continue producing.

“We’re in a state of emergency because we can’t keep working if all we do is lose money every season,” Barrientos said.

According to data of the Vegetable Oil and Wheat Producers Association, this summer 1.02 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of soybeans were sowed, of which at least 350,000 hectares were damaged, for a loss of more than $168 million for the farmers and 550,000 tons less soy produced.

“We hope that climate change doesn’t keep punishing us because we want to harvest as much as possible, have more to sell and so be able to pay off our debts,” Barrientos said.

The farmer Agapito Galan of the Cuatro Cañadas municipality told EFE that he owes the bank at least $60,000 for the purchase of a machine that he can’t finish paying for due to the poor harvests from different crops in recent years.

He said that this season he managed to harvest 400 kilos (880 lbs.) of soy per hectare, whereas the average harvest in good weather conditions is 2.5 tons per hectare.

Similarly, the grower Paulino Chambi of the 26th of August community in Cuatro Cañadas told EFE that 50 percent of his 50 hectares have been affected and he’s losing money as a result.

“We’re worried - I hope the authorities can somehow help us because we’ve been weighed down with debt for four years,” he said.

For his part, the farmer Oscar Mallon said he hopes to recover the $10,000 invested this season in the next cycle of winter crops.

“There’s good and bad in agriculture, and this summer it was all bad - there are no good harvests and we hope to at least cover the costs, because it’s unlikely we’ll reap any profits,” he told EFE during the visit promoted by the IBCE.

As for northern Santa Cruz, farmers have to fight the overflowing rivers due to the constant rains, which also cause crop losses.

Farmer Raul Soto told EFE that in the municipality of San Julian at least 800 families lost some 40,000 hectares of soy, sorghum and corn due to the flooding of the Rio Grande river.

Soto added that he is burdened with a $70,000 debt from the last growing season and that he lost 40 hectares of crops, which signifies at least $15,000 more he must pay to trading firms.

All agree that one way to avoid depending on the weather is to use biotechnology breakthroughs like the HB4 soybean, which is tolerant to drought and boosts production however dry the season.

Last week the country’s associations of small and large producers voted on a resolution declaring themselves in a state of emergency and asking the Bolivian government to study the authorization of the use of the HB4 soybean by farmers affected by climate change.

They also asked that a process be started for the evaluation of biotechnological innovations for maize.

In 2005 the Bolivian government approved the use of a modified soy, the only such step ever authorized in Bolivia.

The Bolivian Constitution bans the production, importation or marketing of genetically modified organisms (GMO), though another article says they will be regulated by law.