| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
advertisement | ||
Saturday May 20, 11:09 AMSoybeans spark tensions in Amazon, activists target Cargill(Kyodo) _ This city in the heart of the Amazon rainforest state has seen tensions flare over expanding soybean production in recent days, and Greenpeace activists targeted the export operations of U.S. food giant Cargill Inc. on Friday.Clashes between the Greenpeace environmentalists and local farmers have created an abrasive atmosphere. Rainforest defenders say the introduction of large-scale soybean production here has accelerated the destruction of the rainforest. But the sojeiros, as the local population calls the soybean farmers, contend that they have been bringing progress to the region since the crop was introduced a few years ago. Nerves became even more frayed Friday morning when Greenpeace activists used the famous Artic Sunrise ship to block the Cargill export terminal. The activists attempted to prevent soybeans from being unloaded from barges into the facility by the Tapajos River. Huge agribusinesses like Cargill are eating up the Amazon to grow soybeans, said Greenpeace Amazon Forest Campaign Coordinator Paulo Adario. Adario added that Greenpeace volunteers will stay here as long as possible to prevent soybeans from being exported to Europe to feed chickens, pigs and cows. Greenpeace activists tried to occupy the roof and conveyor belts of Cargill's facility where they have displayed a banner reading: "Cargill Get Out!" The federal police arrested Adario and 15 other activists early in the afternoon and released them early in the evening. A group of local farmers threatened Adario as he was being taken away by the police. The incident took place six days after a group of farmers attacked local journalists who covered a demonstration calling for protecting the rainforest. Adinor Batista, chairman of the Farmers Union, said the union "regrets" the action by the locals. Batista has charged Greenpeace with defending the interests of U.S. soybean producers who fear the competition from Brazilian producers. He has called Greenpeace activists "terrorists who do not respect the Brazilian sovereignty" and said the invasion of the port has been "a clear demonstration of violation of international rules, which Brazil has subscribed." Pio Stefanelo, one of the largest soybean growers in the region, has defended local producers, maintaining that the fields do not harm the rainforest at all. "We are proud of doing what we do. We are not criminals." The farmer claims that 500,000 hectares of land in the region was destroyed in the past to exploit valuable tropical timber and later to produce grazing pastures for cattle. "We do not destroy the forest to grow soybeans and other items such as rice and corn," Stefanelo said. But environmentalists claim that raising soybeans is currently the leading cause of rainforest destruction in the Brazilian Amazon. They state that an estimated 1.2 million hectares of what used to be rainforest have already been destroyed to grow soybeans. The local soybean output has soared from 50 tons in 2000 to 22,000 tons in 2005, according to statistics the Farmers Union has released. "We expect to reach a volume of 3 million tons within four or five years," said Renato Dantas, the chairman of the local Trade Bureau. Cargill is the only corporation that buys the local soybeans. It also acknowledges that most of the land used by its suppliers is unregistered and thus illegal. "This is a long-standing tradition in the Amazon region, where most farmers do not posses ownership certificates for the land they explore," said Antenor Giovaninni, general manager of Cargill's local port facilities. The Farmers Union claims that most of the population sides with the sojeiros, but a simple conversation with locals shows just the opposite. "Greenpeace activists help to protect the forest and this is important because deforestation has been growing," said Anibal Carneiro Santos. Santos stressed that three-fourths of his friends are pro-Greenpeace, although he believes that the activists should stop invading private facilities. "If you invade somebody's home they can shoot you," Santos said. |
|||
|
2005 Kyodo News © Established 1945. All Rights Reserved.
|