Burn land or plant trees? Bolivian farmers weigh their options

[Judi Lynn]

By Gonzalo TORRICO
Santa Cruz, Bolivia (AFP) Mar 1, 2025

Less than a year after the worst wildfires in Bolivia's history, farmers face a choice: continue starting blazes to clear land for agriculture, or plant trees to mitigate worsening droughts.

Around 10.7 million hectares (26.4 million acres) of dry tropical forest -- an area about the size of Portugal -- went up in smoke in Bolivia's eastern lowlands last year, according to the non-profit Bolivian Institute for Forest Research (IBIF).

While the fires received less attention than those across the border in Brazil, they killed at least four people, according to Bolivian authorities, and churned up record carbon pollution, the European Union's climate monitor said.

Attempts to carry out controlled burns were widely blamed for the infernos, which spread quickly in a region parched by a prolonged drought that scientists attribute to climate change.

Julia Ortiz, a sesame grower, knows all too well the hazards of the "chaqueos" (slash-and-burn agriculture) practiced by farmers big and small in Bolivia, particularly in the tropical grasslands of Chiquitania region.

More:
https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Burn_land_or_plant_trees_Bolivian_farmers_weigh_their_options_999.html