The expansion of soybeans to feed cattle devastates the forests of Bolivia

The expansion of production soymainly for the meat industry, has intensified in bolivian and has made this country the most exposed to deforestation linked to this crop, which is already seven times greater than that of Brazil.

This is revealed by a study by Trase, a platform that analyzes and exposes the supply chains of the main raw materials traded globally, such as soybeans, and whose data has been released this Wednesday.

Although the forest destruction associated with soybean macrocultures is usually related to Brazil and Argentina, the study clarifies that the production of this raw material in Bolivia has triggered deforestation in the last eight years in a 259%.

This is due, according to the authors of the report, to agricultural expansion, where they detail that “Most worrisome is the expansion of soybean plantations to meet the growing demand for livestock feed.”

“In 2021, 31.8 hectares of native vegetation were deforested or converted for every thousand tons of soybeans produced in Bolivia”according to the study, a much higher figure than that of Brazil (4.6 hectares, in 2020), Paraguay (5.9 hectares, in 2019) or Argentina (0.9 hectares, in 2019).

At a global level, the area dedicated to this crop rose from the 778,600 hectares it occupied in 2020 -when it entailed deforestation of about 77,090 hectares- to 1,088 million hectares in 2021, the year in which at least 105,600 hectares suffered the conversion of natural ecosystems to another type of land use.

“The demand from the meat industry to grow more soybeans for animal feed has taken hold in Bolivia and we are witnessing the destruction of nature in another Latin American country”Joao Goncalves, director of the NGO Mighty Earth Brasil, which is part of the Zero Deforestation Alliance, lamented in a statement.

“The fact that the rate of deforestation and conversion of forests to cultivate soybeans is seven times higher than that of Brazil shows the magnitude of the problem for Bolivia”added Goncalves, who pointed out that “the same great player from other countries is involved: Cargill”.

“We hope that these new data from Trase are the necessary wake-up call to stop further expansion of soybeans in Bolivia”he stressed.

Of the 3.3 million tons of soybeans that Bolivia produced in 2021, 2.5 million were exported to Colombia and Peru, 77% like soybean cake, twenty% such as soybean oil and 3% like raw soybeans.

Source: EFE