STROEDER, Argentina — Skeletons of livestock are piling up in the scorching sun of the Southern Hemisphere’s summer as the worst drought in a generation turns much of Argentina’s breadbasket into a dust bowl.
The nation’s farm sector stands to lose $5 billion this year alone — a huge blow to the economy of Argentina, a top world exporter of soy, corn, wheat and beef — as well as to the government of President Cristina Fernandez, which faces billions of dollars in debt payments this year.
Wheat fields that once supplied flour for pasta-loving Argentines now resemble deserts, and spiny thistles are all that survive on cattle ranches in southern Buenos Aires province.
Nothing edible grows, said Hilda Schneider, a 65-year-old rancher who has lost nearly 500 cows to starvation.
“With the situation we’re in now, without any harvest, there’s nothing to do,” said Schneider, one of 2,000 residents in Stroeder, a farming village suffering its worst drought since the 1930s. “We try to save the animals, which is the only thing we have left.”
Nationally, there hasn’t been this little rain in Argentina since 1971, said Liliana Nunez of the Argentine National Weather Service.
Uruguay has declared a farming emergency, but Argentina seems hardest hit, with the Agriculture Secretariat projecting a 44 percent drop in the 2008-09 wheat harvest and a 27 percent drop in corn. Argentine harvests of more resilient soy are expected to increase by just 7 percent after rising an average of 10 percent a year since 2003.
Farm labor leaders have begun pressing for government stimulus.
“The declaration of a national disaster is fundamental,” said Javier Jayo Ordoqui, leader of the Argentine Rural Confederation. “Where is the government’s plan for financing the next planting?”
“We’re working on it, redistributing money to assist in the emergency,” Agriculture Secretary Carlos Cheppi said last week.
He said $66 million in subsidies has already been sent to provincial governments for distribution to small farmers, which translates to about $4,500 each for qualifying farmers in Stroeder. Many said that wouldn’t even cover diesel for their tractors.
