Birthplace of waters, Cerrado receives 600 million liters of pesticides per year

This is some of the information contained in the document Living in contaminated territories: a dossier on pesticides in Cerrado waters, which compiles scientific works on the subject.

The report was prepared by National Campaign in Defense of the Cerrado, Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) and researchers from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) and was launched this Tuesday (30), two days before the public hearing organized by deputy Nilto Natto (PT-SP), with the theme Impacts of Pesticides on traditional people and communities in the Cerrado, which will take place at 10 am this Thursday (1st), in the Chamber of Deputies, within the scope of the activities of the Sustainable Development Environment Commission.

Between 1985 and 2021, the extension of soybean crops in Cerrado increased by around 1.440%, occupying the equivalent of 10% of its area. Soy is the crop that has most required the use of pesticides. More than 63% of this type of product goes to grain planting. The way the pesticide is released is another problem. Only 32% of the sprayed volume reaches the target plants, while 49% goes to the soil and 16% is dispersed through the air to areas neighboring the application. What can be seen, therefore, is that the contamination is significant.

Mariana Pontes, member of the secret teamaria-executive of the National Campaign in Defense of the Cerrado, which brings together more than 50 organizations and social movements, warns that, behind the discourse of supposed development of the biome, which has given support to the increasing presence of large enterprises, intensive livestock farming and of agribusiness, there is a model of exploitation in the nature of the communities that live in the region. “And it brings a lot of violence, a lot of usurpation of territories and violation of human rights”, she adds.

(With Brazil Agency)

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