Carimagua And Agrofuels

Portada del libro Agrocombustibles: llenando tanques, vaciando territorios One of the most interesting articles in the book was written in 2007 by Professor Mario Mejía Gutiérrez. He makes general considerations about the sustainability of monocultures in agricultural megaprojects like the African palm (Elaeis guineensis) and rubber (Hevea gender) located in different geographical regions of Colombia, especially at Colombia’s Orinoquia. In the article, he predicted what might happen with the Carimagua, Meta’s lands, before knowing the whole history of these days. His words will help us to contextualize better the real value of that place. Professor Mejía says: "The experimental station Carimagua is now abandoned and expecting an offer of some mega project of 17 thousand hectares by the Ministry of Agriculture. Once exclusive vision of CIAT toward the use of the land in the Colombian flat plains (El Llano) only for the bovine cattle has lagged behind and instead they are now proposing the mega farm. Change of era. It took 40 years of international scientific bureaucracy to change their opinion about the savanna. It is the turn of the World Bank (CIAT is their representative body in Colombia) to promote agrofuels, according to the interests of the empire." I visited the Carimagua area a few years ago and I know part of its history. Really it is a poor and acid soil, but has an enormous potential for agro-forestry, pastures and if these territories are given the appropriate agricultural an ecological management, even for plane agriculture. It is also an area where the Colombian armed conflict is present, due to its strategic location, where historically the guerrillas have had strongholds and more recently paramilitary groups. In fact, at the entrance to Carimagua an Army battalion has been placed. Full story: http://en.equinoxio.org/featured/carimagua-and-agrofuels-20080223-000025/ More contextual information (in English): http://www.cipcol.org/?p=541

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