More of the Amazon rain forest should be cut down to make way for farmland to
help ease the global food crisis, the governor of a big Brazilian farming state
was quoted on Friday as saying.
Blairo Maggi, the governor of Mato Grosso state and Brazil's largest soy
producer, was quoted in the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper as defending
deforestation.
"With the worsening of the global food crisis, the time is coming when it will
be inevitable to discuss whether we preserve the environment or produce more
food. There is no way to produce more food without occupying more land and
taking down more trees," said Maggi, a farming pioneer in the vast western state
who is widely known as the "King of Soy."
"In this moment of crisis, the world needs to understand that the country has
space to raise its production."
Folha said the areas with the most deforestation, legal and illegal, in the
second half of 2007 were in Mato Grosso, a huge agricultural state in western
Brazil still half covered by rain forest.
Brazil's booming economy, soy farming and cattle ranching have put pressure on
land prices and fueled deforestation.
Official figures released in January showed that between August and December of
last year, about 2,700 square miles were chopped down illegally in the Amazon
rain forest. It was the first increase in deforestation after three years of
declines and coincided with a rise in global food prices.
Comments are moderated to remove those that are inappropiate prior to appearing
on the site.