AGRICULTURE-ARGENTINA: Rural Economy in Deep Water

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Apr 28 1998 (IPS) - Hopes for record harvests turned to desperation this month as floods destroyed crops, livestock and infrastructure at a cost of one percent of the Gross Domestic Product following heavy rains in Argentina.

Some eight million hectares in the northeast alongside the rivers Parana, Paraguay and Uruguay were left under water, and more than 120,000 poor people were forced to abandon the area.

The finance ministry admitted losses could top three billion dollars – one percent of GDP – due to the amount of livestock lost and the destruction of harvests, bridges, roads, silos, farms and all types of machinery stores.

The authorities also announced a reduction in taxes collected and a fall in exports. The floods caused the loss of 400 million dollars of export production, further accentuating the deficit carried by the foreign sector since 1997.

Meanwhile, public spending increased, to palliate the effects of the disaster. President Carlos Menem said Tuesday the ministers must be supplied with “all the necessary resources” to help the disaster victims.

Some 45 million dollars have been paid out since mid-month.

And the panorama is bleak. Eleven people have died, four of them volunteer rescue workers, carried off by the current when their boat capsised following a collision with a stranded tractor.

Hundreds of thousands of bloated dead animals float over what was, until recently, pastureland, polluting the rivers. In some rural areas up to 90 percent of all livestock was killed.

The few animals that have survived did so by flocking to high ground, but the experts are pessimistic. They calculate that many animals will die of infections, hunger and stress, and that those which do manage to survive will not be able to produce the desired quality of meat and milk.

Up to now, the dairy industry has lost 16.5 million dollars through the loss of livestock and the fact that 2,900 dairy farms were also left submerged.

Only 900,000 tons of the expected 1.5 million tons of cotton were saved, and the farmers prefer not to close the balance yet. Half the tobacco harvest and 30 percent of rice stores were also lost.

The government had announced record harvests for this year. Agricultural production of more than 61 million tons was expected, 13 percent up on 1997.

The euphoria was even greater due to the high yields. The area planted was reduced eight percent compared with last year, but the use of agrochemicals, modern technology and improved seeds increased per hectare yield.

Thousands of middle-sized and small producers, who took out loans to fund this year’s agricultural campaign, lost their harvests and have run up debts they cannot pay.

The official banks have reduced pressure on debtors and have started to grant new loans, giving a year’s grace and interest rates below market levels.

But thousands of families made a living from fishing, tending livestock, construction and other trades, and apart from being out of work, they also run the risk of losing their homes through the floods.

Some evacuees were reluctant to leave their homes, living in their tin shacks with their few belongings piled up, wading through water up to their knees to accept dry clothing or food from rescue workers and fire personnel.

But as the days pass the children and old people have started falling ill.

Diahorrea, allergies, skin and chest problems have all struck since the floods, and the outlook is not good. These floods could be even more extensive than those of 1983, the worst so far this century.

Since then some public works were carried out to hold back the waters, but they were not all completed, and in recent days, the government has been criticised for not using a World Bank loan for flood prevention works.

The provincial governments defended themselves from the accusations of flood victims arguing that this was an exceptional event due to Nino phenomenon, which increased rainfall in southern Brazil, at the head of the Parana, Paraguay and Uruguay rivers, and on the northeast Argentine coast.

But the Economy Ministry’s National Institute of Agricultural Technology, said it had been warning of the risk of heavy rains since September 1997, but that is warning had gone unheeded.