The USDA forecasts Paraguay’s soybean production for 2008/09 at 5.60 million tons, down 14 percent from last month’s 6.50 million tons. Area is estimated at 2.45 million hectares, down 2 percent from last month’s 2.5 million hectares. Yield is forecast at 2.29 tons per hectare, a 12 percent decrease from last month’s 2.6 tons per hectare and below the record high 2.9 tons per hectare in 2002/03.
Hot, dry weather affected Paraguay’s soybean producing areas during December, with some areas receiving less than 25 percent of average precipitation for the month. High temperatures further depleted soil moisture supplies and reduced production prospects. Dry weather is stressing the soybean crop as it enters the blooming and pod-setting stages. Planting was completed in late December under extremely dry conditions and some fields may have to be replanted or abandoned.
Some soybean cropland in Paraguay may also be lost this year due to land exchange agreements that have been enacted in response to recent raids on farms by protesting indigenous groups. Through negotiations, a first agreement was reached between the Coordinating Committee for the Defense of Sovereignty and Agrarian Reform and a group of Brazilian landowners in Paraguay to sell 22,000 hectares back to the Paraguayan state, which will be funded through revenues from the Paraguayan-Brazilian Itaipu hydroelectric dam. This land is expected in turn to be distributed to indigenous farmers and retired from soybean production. Production from this land is uncertain during the 2008/09 season. (For more information, contact Denise McWilliams at 202-720-0107.)