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More than 700,000 hectares of land have been completely destroyed in the province of Corrientes, in northeastern Argentina, due to forest fires that authorities are unable to control and that have endangered the country’s largest wetland. At the same time, ranchers in Paraguay warned about the serious impact of the drought in the nation and that it threatens to cause a shortage of pasture and millionaire economic losses.
Argentines and Paraguayans are going through great consternation with the magnitude of the fires that have devastated hundreds of thousands of hectares of fertile fields and cattle lands.
In Argentina, more than 700,000 hectares of land have been destroyed by fire and, according to the Secretary of Environmental Control and Monitoring, Sergio Federovisky, the fires in the province of Corrientes are among the most serious in the recent history of the country.
On the other hand, several Paraguayan ranchers and businessmen warned about the serious impact of the drought in their country, and even the harvest of products such as soybeans may contract up to 60% this year.
“At the current value of the soybean price, that means approximately between 2,500 and 3,000 million dollars less that will not enter our economy,” said Hugo Pastore, executive director of Capeco, an entity that brings together exporters and marketers of soybeans. Paraguay.
The largest wetland in Argentina is in danger
The Secretariat of Environmental Control and Monitoring of Argentina reported this Monday, February 21, that the uncontrollable fire entered the Esteros del Iberá, an area full of swamps, swamps and lagoons.
“The drought is so pronounced that the estuaries dried up, the fire entered an unusual place,” said Sergio Federovisky in an interview with Argentine media.
The concern is evident in an area of wetlands, because, as stated in an article in the newspaper El Clarín, wetlands “cover 10% of the earth’s surface and it is estimated that they can capture up to 40% of the world’s terrestrial carbon.”
According to the latest report from the Argentine Ministry of Environment, this Monday eight fires remained active in Corrientes, concentrated especially in the northern part of the province, while two others are already controlled.
Since January, the province of Corrientes has suffered from a series of fires that have burned 785,238 hectares, which represents 8.8% of the province that borders Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay, according to the latest report from the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) published last week.
Paraguayan merchants and ranchers, concerned about the losses caused by the drought
In the southeast of Paraguay, not far from the Argentine province of Corrientes, the great droughts and forest fires have destroyed the fertility of many lands where soy is grown.
CURRENTS in an environmental disaster several weeks ago and no one can control the fire that devastated the Flora and fauna, not only that the number of endangered species in extinction are dying!!! PONGAS BATTERIES GOVERNOR OF CORRIENTES AND PRESIDENT #fires pic.twitter.com/lT4EVwjJLZ
— (@Dominguezzmili) February 15, 2022
Between 2020 and 2021, soybean production in the country reached 9,518,600 tons. However, with the current weather situation, losses could exceed $3 billion or a 60% contraction in production this year.
For his part, Hugo Pastore, director of Capeco, the entity that brings together Paraguayan exporters and marketers, expressed concern about the effects of the drought “throughout the chain” (banks, transportation, ports).
“Years of good harvests are years of economic boom for the country and years of harvests with lower yields have the opposite effect, without a doubt,” he said.
Pastore stressed that on this occasion the drought, attributed to the climatic phenomenon of La Niña, has acquired a regional scope, affecting much of the Southern Cone of South America.
With EFE, Reuters and local media