Developmnet of industrial crops for arid lands in Argentina

RAVETTA, D.A. VILELA, A.E.

Chillan, Chile

Conferencia; AAIC 21st Annual Meeting. International Conference: The next generation of Industrial Crops, Processes and Products. Termas de Chillán, Chillán, Chile. 14-19 November 2009.; 2009

Association for the Advancement of Industrial crops

The bank crisis of 2001 reshaped agricultural production in Argentina.  Low internal product prices and production costs set  at international levels, as well as increasing  taxes resulted in extremely low revenues for traditional products such as corn, wheat, sunflower and soybeans, the four major crops of the country. Even stronger constraints worked their way into the meat, diary and wool production.  Regional products and regional economies were also hit hard.   Still while the revenue was at its lowest, land prices kept growing, driven by speculation. Large investing pools shifted their goals towards marginal land, in search of lower land values. These lands had been largely overlooked and mostly underdeveloped and structural and functional constraints limited production.  Among them the lack of alternative crops seemed to prevent new developments.  Such as in previous attempts investors appeared to be ready, but alternative crops were not. Here I will describe past and present efforts to develop new industrial crops for arid lands in Argentina, and evaluate public and private constraints to this process. I will focus mostly on crops for medium to large size markets but not on boutique and niche products.  The most successful  story is the introduction of Jojoba in the early 1990´s, although  after a lag face the crop seems to be facing a potential decline similar to what happened two decades ago in the U.S. and Mexico. The causes of the decline can be traced to a lack of basic research and public policy.  Other attempts for  the commercial introduction of guayule, kenaf, and guar have failed.   Ongoing efforts on resins, specialty seed oils and fibers will be described for which the commercialization has not started yet. On the long run and despite some sporadic efforts the local development or the introduction of new crops has been depressed by the lack of incentives for farmers to diversifying production and to move to marginal lands.  Traditional crops produce the best profits (even when reduced by extreme export taxes)  and the country lacks a comprehensive program to support diversification.