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2 October 2009 | Interviews | Food Sovereignty
Endless Soy
Interview with Pablo Valenzuela, from Sobrevivencia-Friends of the Earth Paraguay
1:30 minutes
Download: MP3 (1 Mb)
Next year, four million hectares will be planted with soy in Paraguay, meaning that over 50 per cent of arable lands of the country will be growing this crop, estimates Paraguayan environmentalist organization Sobrevivencia-Friends of the Earth, which has been denouncing the impacts of the soy model for years.
Approximately 70 thousand peasants leave their lands per year due to the advance of soy. 80 per cent of the production is genetically modified. And millions of liters of glyphosate which poison lands and communities are used.
Soy in the Southern Cone is exported to Europe and Asia, mainly for animal feed and agrofuels. The cost paid in this region is the displacement of thousands of people, complete loss of sovereignty in all its dimensions, and propagation of respiratory diseases, cancer, leukemia, among others.
What is the responsibility of transnational corporations? Why did the mother of deceased child Silvino Talavera file a complaint against Monsanto?
Which are the links between deforestation and the advance of soy? What is the situation of land property and water resources? How are peasant communities resisting displacement? What is the situation of Indigenous Peoples?
These were some of the issues addressed by Pablo Valenzuela.
