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Chile is also becoming a force in the world pork and
poultry markets, registering dramatic increases in exports
of both since 2000 (table 4). Chile is now the second
largest exporter of pork and the third largest exporter
of chicken meat in Latin America and exports 28.3%
of its domestic pork supplies and 16.1% of its domestic
chicken meat supplies.
Latin American countries have been primarily net importers
of dairy products accounting for nearly 15% of
world whole and skim milk powder imports (oecdfao,
2012). Rapid population growth in the region has
boosted demand for dairy products but economic crises
in many Latin American countries have created erratic
import growth patterns (Blaney et al., 2006). Mexico
has been the largest importer of both fluid and non-fat
dry milk in Latin America but its imports of both have
been on the decline over the last decade (usda, 2012a).
Brazil was a net importer of dairy products until 2004
when exports surpassed imports (idf, 2010).
Deforestation continuing at alarming rates
The progress of deforestation around the world is driven
by multiple factors (Pacheco et al., 2011). In Latin
America, commercial agricultural expansion, primarily
crops like soybeans and cattle production, remains the
main cause. In other areas of the world, deforestation
is associated with subsistence agriculture. Deforestation
threatens Latin America’s vast biodiversity. Of the
world’s 10 most bio-diverse countries, five are in Latin
America (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru).
Deforestation causes an estimated 62% of carbon emissions
and other environmental damage in Latin America
compared to 16% globally (Nash, 2012). The conversion
of tropical forests to agricultural uses leads to emissions
of other greenhouse gases, chiefly methane and nitrous
oxide. Latin America’s agricultural emissions of these
two gases grew 35% between 1990 and 2005 (the last year
data are available) compared to 16% worldwide (Nash,
2012). One positive note is that the rate of growth of
emissions relative to the growth of the agricultural gdp
in Latin America declined by 21% over that same period
compared to 15% globally (Nash, 2012).
Growing and persistent disease outbreaks accompany
livestock production growth
Increasingly frequent livestock disease outbreaks plague
the development of Latin American livestock production
Table 7. Percentage change in meat and dairy product exports, 2000-11 and export share of domestic supply,
2011, selected lac countries
Argentina Brazil Chile
Costa
Rica
Mexico Nicaragua Paraguay Uruguay LAC
------------------------------------------------------ Change % -------------------------------------------------
Beef -11,5 218,1 1/ 14,3 -28,9 359,4 256,9 110,9 115,9
Export share 12,0 20,5 5,0 23,1 11,0 90,2 49,1 66,9 19,7
Pork 180,0 386,9 757,6 220,7 77,2 -89,6 1/ -47,6 358,3
Export share 2,7 17,0 28,3 13,0 4,9 1,3 1,4 0,1 11,6
Sheepmeat 498,2 40,3 -5,8 1/ 123,7 1/ 1/ -4,5 -14,2
Export share 9,9 0,0 23,4 0,0 0,2 0,0 0,0 58,4 6,3
Poultry 1/ 256,9 256,7 8,6 18,2 -61,1 0,0 1/ 282,8
Export share 19,7 26,7 16,1 3,0 0,0 0,3 0,0 13,7 17,2
Note: 1/ = Large percentage change from a small number.
Source: Calculated from data in oecd-fao (2012) except the numbers in italic, which are calculated from data
in usda (2012), and those in bold calculated from data in fao (2012a).
A Perspective on Latin America and the Caribbean
57