Poisoned, Dispossessed and Excluded: A Critique of the Neoliberal Soy Regime in Paraguay

This paper challenges the recent hailing of agricultural biotechnology as a panacea for food insecurity and rural poverty in countries of the global South. Based on an empirical investigation of the neoliberal soy regime in Paraguay, I document how the profound transformation of this country's...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of agrarian change 2016-10, Vol.16 (4), p.702-710
Main Author:	Ezquerro-Cañete, Arturo
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	accumulation by fumigation and dispossession Agribusiness Agricultural biotechnology Agricultural development Agricultural practices Agricultural production Agriculture agrochemical drift Agrochemicals Agronomy Analysis Biotechnology Company structure Dependence Development policy Empowerment Environmental quality Food Food security Food supply Genetic modification Genetically altered foods Health care policy Industrial policy National security Negotiation neoliberal food regime Neoliberalism Paraguay Peasants Poverty Production Quality of care Rural areas Rural poverty Security Southern Hemisphere Soybeans Studies Sustainability Transformation Transgenic transgenic soy
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Summary:	This paper challenges the recent hailing of agricultural biotechnology as a panacea for food insecurity and rural poverty in countries of the global South. Based on an empirical investigation of the neoliberal soy regime in Paraguay, I document how the profound transformation of this country's agricultural mode of production over the past two decades, spurred by the neoliberal restructuring of agriculture and the biorevolution, has jeopardized rural livelihoods. In particular, I demonstrate how the transgenic soyization of Paraguay's agriculture has led to an increased concentration of landholdings, as well as the displacement and disempowerment of peasants and rural labourers who have been rendered surplus to the requirements of agribusiness capital. At the same time, the consolidation of this new agro‐industrial model has fostered a growing dependence on agrochemicals that compromise environmental quality and human health. Thus, I argue, a development policy based on industrial monocropping of genetically modified (GM) soy is inappropriate, unsustainable and unethical.
ISSN:	1471-0358 1471-0366