Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Brazilian soybeans have never sold so well, due to a fall in the value of Brazil’s currency and trade tensions between the US and China. Production in the world’s largest exporter reached a record level this year, particularly in the western part of Bahia state. But the development of intensive agriculture has eaten up 50 percent of the vegetation of the “Cerrado”, a type of tropical savanna. As a result, water resources have been depleted, ecosystems destroyed and small farming communities dispossessed. Our Brazil correspondents report.
Agribusiness is devouring Brazil’s ‘Cerrado’ savanna
