Mato Grosso farmers say progress need not mean deforestation
27/04/2011
One of the conclusions the organisation has drawn is that technological developments mean they can achieve growth with using up more land, suggesting no inevitable link between industry advancement and deforestation in Amazon regions.
In 1996, Mato Grosso had a herd of 15.57 million head of cattle, occupying 21.74 hectares of land. By 2010, the herd had grown to 28.7 head, occupying 25.8 million hectares.
This means that although the amount of land being used for pasture increased by 18% over the period, the herd size grew by 85%.
Slaughter has also grown, for 1.09 million head in 1997 to 4.33 million last year.
Acrimat spokesperson Luciano Vacari said livestock farmers had been able to achieve all these improvements through their own efforts and their own investment. He suggested that even greater progress would be possible if the authorities worked with the farmers and shared the investment.
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