BRICS and MICs in Bolivia s value - chain agriculture

Transcription

1 BRICS and MICs in Bolivia s value - chain agriculture BICAS International conference Rural transformations and food systems: The BRICS and agrarian change in the global South April 2015 School of Public Health, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town Ben McKay, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS)

2 Outline 1. Changing context of agrarian political economy 2. Implications for agrarian transformation: Phases of foreignization in Bolivia 3. Value -chain agriculture 4. Land grabs, foreignization, and the spatiotemporal fix 5. Conclusions

3 Changing context of agrarian political economy Convergence of multiple crises World food price crisis 2007/08 Global financial crisis 2007/08 Ongoing crises: climate change, peak oil (FF dep.) Flex crops Crops with multiple uses (food, feed, fuel, industrial material) that can be easily and flexibly interchanged. Diversified investment portfolio Emerging economies (BRICS and MICs) Result: New actors/investors; new drivers and demands; new patterns of production, circulation, consumption and concentration of land and other factors of production contemporary land grabbing

4 Implications for agrarian transformation: Bolivian case First land, now inputs and processing 1990s Brazilian capitalist farmers, continued land appropriation 2000s GM seeds, agro-chemicals, machinery, storage and processing facilities, access to export markets Land/control grabbing of a new character value -chain relations of debt and dependency Control and concentration of the value chain

5 Changing ownership over the means of production Landholding structure for soybean production, Santa Cruz % Landholding structure for soybean production by nationality, % 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Small-scale farmers (0-50 ha) Medium-scale farmers ( ha) Large-scale farmers (More than 1000 ha) Percentage of soy farmers 78% 20% 2% Percentage of soybean area 9% 20% 71%

6 Controlling the agro-industrial value-chain: SEEDS Soybean seed imports, Bolivia Soybean seed import market 2014 (99.8% from Argentina) OTHER 14% Interagro 20% DESA 9% $US/MT DOW AgroSciences 22% Ramacota 35% Seed Imports (MT) Prices ($USD/MT)

7 Controlling the agro-industrial value-chain: Agro-chemicals Agro-chemicals Origin of agro-chemicals in Bolivia, Colombia 2% USA 2% Other 10% India 2% Paraguay 7% China 48% Brazil 7% Argentina 22%

8 Controlling the agro-industrial value-chain Silos, processing and access to export markets Market share of Bolivia s soy (+derivatives) export market, 2012 Cooperativa Agropecuaria Integral Colonias de Okinawa (CAICO) 1% Other 4% Cargill Bolivia S.A 11% GRAVETAL Bolivia S.A 31% Industrias Oleaginosas S.A. (RICO) 9% GRANOS 9% ADM SAO S.A 13% Industrias de Aceite S.A (FINO) 22%

9 1% Cultivation area by crop type ( ) 14% CEREALES ESTIMULANTES FRUTALES HORTALIZAS 25% 50% ALEAGINOSAS INDUSTRIALES TUBÉRCULOS Y RAÍCES FORRAJES 4% 4% Cultivation area by crop type ( p) 47% 0% 7% 3% 4% 4% 34% 1% Cereals Stimulants Fruit Vegetables Industrial Oil Crops Roots and Tubers Fodder 2% Land use change for industrial and staple crops % 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 75% 25% 53% 47% 10% 0% (p) 2012(p) % % of land for staple crops % of land for industrial commodities Year

10 Value-Chain Relations: Debt and Dependency Social, economic, and environmental pressures* Unable to access means of production** Costs of production ; presence of new pests Forced into WB s 3 pathways of out of rural poverty (WDR08) Advance as a capitalist farmer Work as a rural wage labourer Migrate to the city

11 Value-Chain Relations: Debt and Dependency 450 Market price of soybeans, Bolivia, Precio (US$/t) (ANAPO, 2014)

12 Value-Chain Relations: Debt and Dependency Processes of productive exclusion Social, economic, and environmental pressures* Costs of production ; presence of new pests Unable to access means of production** Forced into WB s 3 pathways of out of rural poverty (WDR08) 1. Advance as a capitalist farmer 2. Work as a rural wage labourer 3. Migrate to the city

13 Land area and yields of soybean production, Bolivia Area (ha) Production (t) Superficie (ha) Rendimiento (t/ha) Source: ANAPO Memoria Anual. Conventional vs GM soybean cultivation, Bolivia % de la superficie sembrada con soya Convencional Trangénica Año Fuente: IBCE, 2011; ISAAA, 2012

14 Value-Chain Relations: Debt and Dependency Processes of productive exclusion Social, economic, and environmental pressures* Costs of production ; presence of new pests Unable to access means of production** Forced into WB s 3 pathways of out of rural poverty (WDR08) 1. Advance as a capitalist farmer 2. Work as a rural wage labourer 3. Migrate to the city

15 Value-Chain Relations: Debt and Dependency 1. Advance as a capitalist farmer From labour intensive to capital intensive agriculture Credit (rates range from 14-20% for small farmers) Contract farming Semi-proletarian rentiers 2. Work as a rural wage labourer Lack of labour opportunties in rural areas Pre-mechanization: 1ha employed 10 people; Now: 100ha employes 1 person Some employment opportunities exist: mechanics, agricultural technicians, transportation, but limited

16 Value-Chain Relations: Debt and Dependency 3. Migrate to the city Reluctance to migrate* Lack of any clear path to the city and employment opportunities Rural youth: Social, economic, and environmental pressure to migrate*

17 Land grabs, foreignization, and the spatio-temporal fix Value chain relations as a form of control grabbing* Value-chain agriculture as a spatio-temporal fix** Value-chain appropriationism opening new spaces for capital to penetrate New market opportunities for agribusiness

18 Conclusions: Trajectories of agrarian change? Concentration of land and resource control by newer hubs of global (agro)capital in search for new markets Value-chain agriculture as a new form of control grabbing in Bolivia Leading to productive exclusion and trajectory of massive rural-urban migration State-capital alliance to continue frontier expansion, Bolivia s agricultural development part of the gov ts extractivist project: minerals, hydrocarbons, and soybeans

19 Thank you!