The debate over agricultural policy in Argentina could pave the way for political transformation.

The country was once the world’s biggest exporter of beef and was known as the “bread basket” of South America. But Argentina may be forced to import beef next year, and many of the country’s farmers blame government restrictions on exports.

In recent months, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has refused to lower hefty export taxes despite continued protests. She and her supporters may struggle to retain power in this month’s Congressional elections, with an approval rating of roughly 30 percent.

Read Worldfocus blogger Peter Eisner’s commentary: Argentina’s president faces uphill battle as economy tightens.

Tensions have been exacerbated by the looming economic crisis and a severe drought, the worst in some 70 years, which has devastated crops.

Watch the Worldfocus signature story “Farmers, drought and taxes cripple Argentina.”

Some farmers are now planning to run for election, hoping to leverage public support and pave the way for a new congressional majority that could lower taxes.

Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show explored the state of Argentina’s farms and what the future holds for the country’s economy and leadership.

Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge hosted a panel of guests.

Cristian Harris is an assistant professor at North Georgia College and State University. His research focuses on the impact of international trade on the formation of domestic political divisions, as well as trade policy and development in Argentina and Latin America.

Marcelo Regunaga is a former secretary of agriculture for Argentina and the vice chairman of the International Food & Agricultural Trade Policy Council. Now a professor, Marcelo has consulted for several organizations, such as the United Nations Development Program and the World Bank.

Marie Trigona is a Buenos-Aires based writer, radio producer and filmmaker who reports on labor struggles, social movements and human rights in Latin America. She formerly worked for the Buenos Aires Herald and now contributes to Free Speech Radio News and other independent news sources.

Associated photo courtesy of Flickr user Alicia Nijdam under a Creative Commons license.

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Lisa Biagiotti, Katie Combs and Ben Piven

In the category of “you’ve got to start somewhere,” it appears that China’s outright ban on plastic shopping bags, though routinely violated, is saving a lot of oil and money.

- Nina Hachigian

Photo: Akim Aginsky / Pulitzer Center

Kristina Rizga of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting writes about how farmers are coping with the difficult economic times in Latvia, where the economy is expected to contract by 16.5 percent this year.

Watch the Worldfocus signature story “Empty stores, offices tell tale of Latvia’s economic fall.”

Small Farmers Weather the Economic Storm, Large Farmers Hit Hard

Sixty-year-old farmer Marite Martuzane wakes up every morning at 4:30 and rarely goes to sleep before midnight. Unlike most sectors of the Latvian economy that have slowed dramatically, many small farms that sell directly to their clients have more work than they can handle.

“We are somehow doing better in the economic crisis,” Martuzane explains with a broad, warm smile, as she gives us a tour of her small farm in Adazi, a rural town about 30 minutes away from the capital city of Riga. “People buy more at farmer’s markets now to save money.”

The daughter of a small apple grower at the Riga Central Farmer’s Market, Kristine Brinka, confirms Martuzane’s sentiment. The apples grown on their land in Ikskile always sold well, she says, but they are now selling even more than last year. Vallija, who sells fish caught by a local fisherman, has similarly noticed a spike in her sales this year.

Martuzane works on the farm with her two kids, Liga and Janis, as well as Liga’s partner, Alvis Kigelis. Together, they take care of 12 cows, 40 pigs, dozens of chickens, ducks, and geese, as well as tend to three large greenhouses and an expansive open garden where they grow vegetables and flowers. They own about 34 acres and lease 70.

The countryside with small farms like Martuzane’s always held a special place in the Latvian culture and is still strongly associated with the idea of being Latvian. When Latvia proclaimed its independence in 1918, agriculture was the largest and strongest sector of the economy, and it employed about two-thirds of the work force. When the Soviet Union occupied Latvia in 1945, aggressive industrialization and forced relocation of labor, particularly in the ’60s reduced agriculture’s share of the labor force to about 16 percent by 1990. When the Soviet system fell apart, feed shortages and rising cost of farm equipment created a decline in agricultural production in Latvia.

Today, about nine percent of the 2.3 million total population of Latvia are still engaged in agriculture, compared to the average of about 2.5 percent in the E.U. Close to two thirds of all farms in Latvia are similar size to Martuzane’s — using less than 50 acres, or owning up to 5 cows.

Just like 20 years ago, when Martuzane first started working on this farm, everything they produce is organic and free range. They smoke their own sausages and bacon, and make their own cheese. According to the Latvian Ministry of Agriculture, the number of certified organic farms like Martuzane’s have grown from 38 in 1998 to 4,105 in 2006.

Martuzane thinks the fact that they are small and sell a diverse range of products has enabled them to weather this economic crisis better than bigger, more specialized farms in Latvia. “If we can’t sell meat, we can usually sell cheese,” she explains. “If cheese is not selling, I can sell vegetables.”

The other reason they are doing well, according to Martuzane, is low debt. They took out a small loan to buy two used cars, but resisted taking out larger loans to buy new equipment or expand their facilities.
Unfortunately, profitable farmers like Martuzane, are rare exceptions in the difficult economic times. Even before the economic recession in Latvia, small farmers who lived further away from the wealthier Riga region were among the poorest in Latvia.

But it is the middle and large farmers that are among the hardest hit by the economic crisis right now. After Latvia’s entry into the E.U. in 2004, many small farmers decided to expand. Encouraged by increasing export opportunities, growing GPD and attractive investment loans, large farms increased by 25 percent from 2005 to 2007. About half of their investments were made into facilities and modern equipment.

As Kigelis watched many fellow farmers taking out loans and expanding their operations, he felt that some of the growth was excessive. “I feel like Latvians tried to attain in 10 years what Europeans were building for 40,” Alvis reflects. He also recalls “Aizkraukles Banka” becoming especially aggressive in the countryside with their offers to seemingly attractive loans.

As the global financial crisis spread, the prices of milk and grain — two of the primary agricultural products in Latvia — dropped dramatically. “It’s very hard for large farmers right now, who focused on producing one thing like milk or grain, and took out large loans to expand their facilities,” Liga explains. She mentions the tragic suicide of a large farmer and grain grower, Gatis Karlovs, last year, as an example.

In February of this year, Karlov’s son — along with over 1,000 other primarily large farmers — blocked the streets of Riga with their tractors to protest government policies toward farmers. The protest was one of the largest visible displays of outrage since the economic recession and forced the resignation of Martins Roze, Latvia’s then-agriculture minister.

Martuzane thinks that Latvian farmers, big and small, are being undercut by subsidized, low-cost imports from other E.U. nations. In 2006, the Latvian Ministry of Agriculture shared Martuzane’s sentiment in their yearly report, “Notable differences in the amount of support of the EU market distorting the competition and depriving Latvia of the possibility to use its competitive advantages.” When a New York Times reporter recently expressed this concern to E.U. representatives, they countered that the country’s agricultural program was proposed by the Latvian government itself when Latvia joined the bloc.

Despite the difficulties with E.U. imports, Liga and Marite Martuzane think that joining the E.U. was a positive development overall, at least for small farmers. Liga feels that the E.U. regulations benefited small farmers by overwriting previous Latvian government policies that generated burdensome red tape and corruption. “Before the E.U., I had to fill out six different documents, buy all this extra equipment, and build expensive storage spaces just to milk two cows,” Liga notes.

Marite Martuzane agrees with Liga. Even though she enjoyed the most income from her work back in the Soviet era, there was a significant caveat she explains: “I couldn’t buy anything with my money.” Now, she says, “I have less money, but I can buy anything I want and can get on the airplane to Portugal tomorrow!”

Martuzane proudly explains and rattles off the names of 12 different countries she has visited in Europe since Latvia regained independence. “I also feel more free,” she adds. “It’s difficult to articulate how, but I do.”

Liga and her partner Alvis are concerned that the economic crisis could get even worse this winter, as a growing number of Latvians lose their jobs. Liga can already tell people are preparing for a hard winter. Pigs and potato seeds are sold out in her parish. But Liga says that the majority of farmers like them, who are small and relatively debt-free in Latvia, will survive. “At the very least we know that we will always have enough to feed ourselves.”

- Kristina Rizga

The dry capital of China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Yinchuan.

China is seeing the consequences of excessive water usage and grazing as millions of acres of fertile farmland transform into desert.

The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China has been particularly hard-hit, and is now a vast arid space subject to drought and frequent dust storms. In response, China has relocated some of its farmers.

Sean Gallagher of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting is a British photographer currently based in China. He visits the town of Hongsibao, a dry town that many “ecological refugees” call home.

China: Environmental Refugees

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is a small province lying in Loess highlands of north-central China. Dry and desert-like, it is China’s poorest province and is the least visited by outsiders.

I am here this week to visit the isolated town of Hongsibao, which lies 150km south of the province’s capital Yinchuan, completely surrounded by dry and arid land. Ten years ago, this town didn’t exist.

At a cost of more than 2 billion Chinese Renminbi, the town has been constructed, literally on top of the desert. Officially titled the “Hongsibao Development Zone Poverty Reduction Project,” some 200,000 people have been relocated from local mountainous areas, suffering as a result of the harsh, dry climate of Ningxia province.

“We’ve already been here three years”, says Mrs Li a young storeowner in the center of town. “We moved from Guyuan in the mountains, in southern Ningxia. Some people left the mountain area but some people didn’t want to move. I think life now is much better than before in the mountains because I only had a field, but now I have a small business to earn some money.”

Even though construction has been taking place for 10 years, the town is still clearly developing and for some, isn’t providing the opportunities promised. “I thought there would be more business here”, says Mr Gao, a taxi driver in Hongsibao who voluntarily moved to the area from neighbouring Shanxi province. “I came here to earn some money but I found that it’s not so good. I want to sell my car and go back home.”

As the wind rattles across the wide boulevards that criss-cross the town, dust and sand is readily picked up from the surrounding deserts and blankets the town during the spring. “In March, the winds start to blow”, sighs Mrs Ma who owns a small Muslim restaurant in the centre of town. “When the wind is blowing, you can’t really see anything. It is the same every year.”

Having spoken to many people in the town, it appears that the general feelings towards relocation have been positive. People speak of the improvements in their lives, especially those moved from the poorer mountainous areas. Hongsibao still clearly faces many challenges however, in both it’s development and tackling of it’s harsh and unforgiving location.

To read more, see the original post.

The views expressed by contributing bloggers do not reflect the views of Worldfocus or its partners.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user XM&&LL under a Creative Commons license.

Threshers in Pingyao, China.

China has declared a drought emergency and plans to provide nearly $13 billion in relief money, primarily to aid suffering wheat-growing regions outside Beijing in northern China.

More than 4 million people face water shortages in the worst drought in 50 years.

China has begun diverting water from major rivers and used artificial rainmaking to try to stem the effects of the drought, which poses a threat to rural farmers and their crops.

“Mark’s China Blog” writes that China is drying up:

The other day, a few of my friends and I were trying to remember the last time it rained in Xi’an. We couldn’t. We figured it had to have been in November or October. [...]Just from living in Xi’an though, I can tell you that it hasn’t been raining at all.

Living in a large city, this isn’t that big of a deal. It is surely a bigger deal for farmers living out in the countryside who depend upon falling rain for survival.

This drying of China is nothing new. Northern and Northwest China are currently being crushed by a massive wave of desertification. The Gobi and Taklamakan deserts in China’s Northwest frontier are spreading to other parts of the country very quickly.

North China’s desertification, droughts, and, general, drying out is a very serious problem. Combining these phenomena with the melting glaciers in the Himalayas and their falling water tables and it’s hard to see where China is going to get its water in the future.

A blogger at “Global Voices Online” translates a Chinese blog post from “bandanjilin,” describing how the drought combined with the economic crisis may have disastrous consequences:

Although local government tried very hard to fight against the drought, if the weather continues like this, it will affect the summer harvest. With the financial crisis, we can imagine how hard the life of rural peasants will become. In the past years, the weather has been good, and the peasants can be self-sufficient in food supply. Extra labors can earn cash income to improve life. Now that the rain stops, their lives will be much harder. I am the son of a farmer, and I have two years farmer experience. I know how hard a farmer life is. Among all the occupation, farmer is the hardest.

Blogger “Bezdomny” argues that Beijing’s wasteful water use comes at the expense of rural areas:

When I lived in Taiyuan, I had mains water supply only three times a day. The rest of the time my water came from a tank on the roof — but not for the washing machine, that was mains-only, which meant I had to be really organised about doing laundry. And my in laws in a village in Beijing’s Yanqing county get their water from a tap in the courtyard. And their mains supply is frequently cut off — especially, but by no means exclusively, over winter nights. Therefore (and because Yanqing is Beijing’s coldest county) they store water in a large vat in the kitchen. Isn’t it about time city Beijingers were made to understand the Damoclean sword that is the severe scarcity of water this city faces? Especially in a time of severe drought?

[...]Let me just state yet again that one of my biggest worries about Beijing’s future is water. And I think far too little emphasis is placed on rural China (especially in expat circles). And therefore this drought really worries me.

Map of the drought-affected regions. Photo: ReliefWeb

Blogger “Ying Jia” writes about China’s water usage in relation to its growth:

The wasteful ways of the nation also bear an enormous responsibility. China’s agricultural sector uses 66 percent of China’s total water consumption, mostly for irrigation purposes, but about half of the water is wasted due to leaky pipes. The World Resources Institute found that Chinese industries generally use 10-20 percent more water than their counterparts in developed countries to spur growth. This inefficiency has long term dire consequences for severe water shortages. As the quality of life has improved since China’s reform and opening, rapid urbanization has led to larger consumption of water, where city dwellers take lengthy showers, use washing machines and dishwashers and purchase homes with lawns that need to be watered. This is the very cost of China’s economic boom.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user televiseus under a Creative Commons license.

On Friday, Argentina’s farmers declared a six-day strike, demanding government action in reducing export taxes. Riots and protests over export prices, however, are not new.

Last March, thousands of farmers went on a 128-day strike when President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner raised taxes on soy and cereals to encourage farmers to sell more food at home, stabilizing domestic food prices. The export tax hike – with some taxes as high as 50 percent — was ultimately killed, sending food prices back up again.

Producers Bryan Myers and Megan Thompson and correspondent Edie Magnus report on the food crisis from the grocery aisle to the countryside in Buenos Aires.