{"id":50012287,"date":"2018-11-13T15:20:13","date_gmt":"2018-11-13T15:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.dialogochino.net\/?p=12287"},"modified":"2023-09-25T15:30:25","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T14:30:25","slug":"12287-avocado-boom-wreaks-havoc-on-latin-americas-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/food\/12287-avocado-boom-wreaks-havoc-on-latin-americas-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Avocado boom wreaks havoc on Latin America’s environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIn Chile you have breakfast, lunch and you dream about avocado, but living in China it wasn\u2019t easy to find,\u201d says Camila Kemeny, a Chilean English teacher who lives in the eastern\u00a0city of Hefei. \u201cLately I\u2019ve been seeing more avocados, so I\u2019m happy, because I\u2019m always looking for them like crazy,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

In recent years, imports of the \u201cbutter fruit\u201d, as it is known in China, have exploded. Almost all come from Latin America. In 2017, China imported more than 32 thousand tonnes of avocado, 22% more than the previous year.<\/p>\n

However, across the region, the surge in exports has been accompanied by conflict over water resources and deforestation.<\/p>\n

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Graphic: Catalina Gonzalez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Exactly half of China\u2019s imports (16,707 tonnes) last year came from Chile, with 8,754 tonnes from Mexico and another 6,667 from Peru, according to\u00a0calculations<\/a>\u00a0by UN Comtrade data.<\/p>\n

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Graphic: Catalina Gonzalez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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These three countries have distinct economic advantages in supplying the Chinese market. Chile and Peru have free trade agreements with China and do not pay any export tariffs. Mexico accounts for around half of global avocado exports. It benefits from being much closer to the Chinese market than its competitors, meaning transport costs are lower.<\/p>\n

\u201cFashionable fruit\u201d<\/h2>\n

Big cities Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, account for the largest share of demand, according to Ram\u00f3n Paz, a spokesman for the Mexican Avocado producers & Packers Association (Apeam<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Paz, along with\u00a0other experts<\/a>, attribute the success of the fruit to the Chinese who travel abroad and to tourists introducing new culinary habits.<\/p>\n

A young stallholder at Beijing\u2019s Sanyuanli market told\u00a0Di\u00e1logo Chino<\/em>: \u201cPeople weren\u2019t accustomed to them at first, they thought they were just used for salad and sushi, but now they are more used to eating them and use them in their cooking or eat them for breakfast \u2013 like avocado on toast.\u201d<\/p>\n

With supposed health benefits, demand for the golden green fruit is booming the world over. Some\u00a0new restaurants<\/a>\u00a0even promoted hamburgers enveloped in avocado instead of bread.<\/p>\n

But demand did not arise spontaneously in China. The avocado was practically unknown ten years ago and the Chinese, who preserve culinary traditions with pride, did not accept the fruit at first.<\/p>\n

News channel CGTN last year broadcast a\u00a0special <\/a>feature called \u201cChina\u2019s avocado craze: a \u2018superfood\u2019 marketing success story\u201d. The report argued that the arrival of the fruit was driven by promotional campaigns hailing its positive effects on the heart and skin and a desire to capitalise on its appeal in the West.<\/p>\n

Latin American entrepreneurs have created industry associations, such as the Hass Avocado Committee in Chile and the Mexican APEAM, which have taken campaigns to China. The Mexican consulate sponsored a food festival in Guangzhou and Sanya (on Hainan Island) in 2015 to promote Mexican food and tourism.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina is a huge market and as people become aware of the fruits we export and introduce as part of their diet, consumption will increase,\u201d Roxana Quirarte Murguia, a consultant for the Chinese market at Mexico Food Connection told\u00a0China Daily<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Major companies have also signed agreements to promote large-scale distribution. US company Mission Produce, Lantao, the main importer of avocados to China and distributor Pagoda,\u00a0signed a cooperation agreement<\/a>, creating new brand Mr. Avocado. The merged company distributes boxes in large supermarkets with tags that explain how to cut the fruit and how to prepare it for recipes for the Chinese New Year.<\/p>\n

Last year fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken promoted its fried chicken sandwich and avocado-filled tacos using the\u00a0image<\/a>\u00a0of Chinese singer Joker Xue sporting a bright green moustache, supposedly acquired by munching on their products.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Social and environmental challenges<\/h2>\n

Although the increase in exports to China helps Latin American economies and generates jobs, the environmental consequences are worrisome. The high level of water consumption required to obtain the avocados silky texture and the acreage needed to meet demand have wreaked havoc on land.<\/p>\n

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Graphic: Catalina Gonzalez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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In Chile, the most serious problem is water. In the central avocado-producing province of Petorca, rivers have dried up. 2,000 litres of water are needed to produce a kilo of avocados, four times the amount needed to produce a kilo of oranges, according to Mexico\u2019s National Institute for Forestry, Farming and Fisheries Research.<\/p>\n

Rodrigo Mundaca, an activist and spokesperson for Modatima, the Defense Movement for Access to Water, Land and Environmental Protection, has directly accused agribusiness for the lack of water in surrounding communities.<\/p>\n

Local farmers told an\u00a0investigation<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0The Guardian\u00a0<\/em>that people are getting sick from the drought and must choose between cooking or washing, and going to the bathroom in holes or in plastic bags. All the while, big agri-businesses earn more and more.<\/p>\n

Climate change is also increasing competition for scarce resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn general, it has rained less in the last ten years and there are big irrigation problems,\u201d explained Alex Mart\u00edn, a grower who has been exporting avocado from Chile for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n

In Michoac\u00e1n state, which produces the majority of Mexico\u2019s avocados, the crop has been grown excessively and is accused of contributing to deforestation.\u00a0According to<\/a>\u00a0Greenpeace, in the absence of effective regulation delimiting forest conservation areas and few forest resources that can compete with the avocado, foliage is disappearing.<\/p>\n

Even before the boom, the area set aside for avocado production grew from 31 thousand hectares in 1980 to more than 106 thousand hectares in 2009, according to the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (Sagarpa), a Mexican government body.<\/p>\n

Between 1976 and 2005, 20,000 hectares of forest were lost in the municipalities of Charapan, Cher\u00e1n, Los Reyes, Nahuatzen, Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro, Paracho, Perib\u00e1n, Tanc\u00edtaro, Tingambato, Uruapan and Ziracuaretiro. Between 2000 to 2005, forest loss is estimated to be 509 hectares per year.<\/p>\n