FAO: agricultural production in Latin America will grow by 12% in the next decade

Agricultural and fishing production in Latin America and the Caribbean will increase by 12% in the next decade, but at a “slower” pace than in the past and among challenges such as the volatility of world trade, as predicted today in a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

“Agricultural and fisheries production in the region is expected to expand by 12% by 2032, markedly slower than in the past,” reads the document with the world perspectives of the FAO and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Economic (ECDE).

The organizations estimate that almost 70% of the growth will come from crop production, which will increase by 17%, while livestock and fishing will experience a “more moderate” boom of 11% and 10% in the next ten years. , respectively.

In this sense, they point out, “exports are key to sustained agricultural growth” and this region with 2,000 million cultivated hectares and “abundant agricultural resources” will face numerous challenges, like the rest of the world.

The report first highlights that by 2032 Latin America is expected to have a global export share of more than 30% of corn, soybeans, sugar, beef, poultry, and flour.

“The importance of exports for the region’s agriculture is underscored by its central position in world trade and its central role in driving production growth,” he alleges.

But, at the same time, he warns that a “sustained” growth of Latin American and Caribbean crops will depend on the world maintaining “its orientation towards an open global market.”

In other words, the prosperity of agriculture in the region will also depend on its foreign buyers, on exports, and for this reason “in the next decade the evolution of trade relations in various parts of the world” will count for a lot for producers, creating ” new opportunities and risks.