The worst drought in 20 years is wracking Argentina, stalling the country’s conflict-ridden farm economy just as the government needs agricultural export income to protect its budget surplus at a politically troubled time.
The National Meteorological Service says nearly every part of Argentina is experiencing drought conditions — ranked as “extreme” or “absolute” in most areas — that already have killed thousands of cattle and withered crops.
The damage is worst in the country’s northern farm belt, which for decades has produced the bulk of Argentine agriculture, fueling the nation’s growth.
“There isn’t enough food for animals to graze and there are water shortages for the population,” National Meteorological Service spokeswoman Susana Gordillo said on Saturday.
“The panorama doesn’t look like it’s going to get better,” she said.
Argentina is among the world’s top four exporters of beef, wheat, soy and corn, and sagging output could not only cripple the local economy, but boost already-high world food prices.
About 4.5 million hectares of wheat are now growing nationwide, 19 percent less than last year, and the smallest amount since 1974, the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange said in a report.
Local newspapers are already comparing the dry spell to a severe drought that swept the country in the 1988-1989 growing season, killing crops and slashing exports amid a domestic economic crisis that included 5,000 percent hyperinflation.
This year, economic losses in the farming provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Corrientes and Rio Negro have already reached US$293 million, and wheat and corn-related losses could top US$700 million nationwide, according to an estimate by the Buenos Aires-based La Nacion newspaper.
The paper said that in many spots, annual rainfall is now 20 to 30 percent below its normal level.
Argentina’s powerful farm sector hit the economy earlier this year with a four-month series of strikes, as grain farmers suspended shipments to protest an export-tax hike decreed in March by Argentine President Cristina Fernandez to boost government revenue.
Exports and tax income fell during the protest and the government was forced to back down on the tax plan.
Fernandez’s approval ratings dipped to near 20 percent in several July polls.
Now, nature, not politics, is threatening Argentina’s fiscal strength.
Agriculture Secretary Carlos Cheppi has vowed to give drought-stricken ranchers and farmers cash assistance, but for some, it wasn’t enough.
“The drought is wreaking havoc, and government help is minimal,” said Eduardo Buzzi, president of the Argentina Agrarian Federation, which helped to coordinate the farm strikes this year.
Meanwhile, 30 percent of wheat crops have dried up in Buenos Aires province, said Agrarian Affairs Undersecretary Fernando Vilella, and 40 percent less wheat and 25 percent less corn is growing in Cordoba province, the Cordoba Grain Exchange said.
Only areas immediately around the capital and far-flung parts of the Andes, Tierra del Fuego and areas near northeastern Iguazu Falls, are enjoying “regular” rainfall, the meteorological service said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in