Paraguay Livestock
Driving cattle along the Trans-Chaco Highway
Courtesy Inter-American Development Bank
Raising and marketing livestock, a traditional source of
livelihood in Paraguay, remained a major segment of agriculture and
the economy at large during the 1980s. Livestock output accounted
for roughly 30 percent of agricultural production and about 20
percent of the sector's exports. The raising of livestock
represented more than a quarter of total land use and 80 percent of
all capital investment in agriculture. Paraguay's vigorous
livestock sector also was responsible for the country's high per
capita production and consumption of meat and dairy goods. It was
estimated that 40 percent of the country's land was especially
suited for livestock and some 20 percent generally suitable.
Endowed with plentiful grazing lands, Paraguay had vast potential
for livestock development.
After the importation of 7 cows and a bull by the Spanish in the
mid-1550s, the country's cattle herds swelled to some 3 million
head by the time of the War of Triple Alliance, the largest herds
in the Southern Cone. As with every other sector of the Paraguayan
economy, the war devastated the country's livestock sector, leaving
only 15,000 head. It was not until World War I that domestic demand
was met locally and significant exports left the country. By the
end of World War II, beef exports had become a major foreignexchange earner. Beef production and exports fluctuated
considerably in the postwar period because of international price
movements, weather conditions, government pricing policies, and
other factors. In 1987 the country's cattle herd stood at about 8
million head with an annual slaughter rate of 1 million head. In
that same year, 75 percent of the slaughter went to the domestic
market and the remaining 25 percent to the export market.
Cattle, mostly beef cattle, were found throughout the
countryside. The Chaco region was best known for its contribution
to cattle raising because of its lack of crops and its sprawling
ranches. Nevertheless, the cattle population density of Eastern
Paraguay, 0.6 head per hectare, was actually higher than that of
the Chaco region, 0.3 head per hectare.
The country's breeding stock was primarily Spanish criollo,
although over the years considerable crossbreeding with English
breeds and zebu cattle from Brazil had taken place. Although cattle
were numerous in Paraguay, the country lacked a sufficient number
of pure-bred breeding cattle. The livestock sector also suffered
from a low calving percentage, a high mortality rate, and a long
fattening period for steers. Artificial insemination was
increasingly common. To a certain extent, cattle raising reflected
the disparities in agriculture in general. There were numerous
farmers who owned only a few head of relatively unproductive cattle
that were slaughtered for the local market under relatively poor
sanitary conditions. By contrast, extremely large cattle ranches
typically were owned by expatriates and butchered more productive
animals for both national and international markets.
Seventy slaughterhouses for the domestic market and eight for
the export market operated in the 1980s. Local slaughterhouses
often could not pass sanitary inspections, but government
inspection efforts were focused on improving quality control of
exports to meet the stringent regulations of foreign beef markets.
The country's beef exports expanded until 1974, when Paraguay lost
access to European Economic Community (EEC) markets and lower world
prices further stagnated output. Beef exports responded strongly
but erratically in the 1980s as the government's minimum export
price system and contraband activity undercut greater export
efforts
(see Monetary Policy
, this ch.). For example, beef exports
were a mere 3,100 tons in 1985, 48,000 tons in 1986, and 18,000
tons in 1987, the last being the more typical figure. The 1986 boom
in beef exports was the direct result of beef shortages in Brazil
caused by price controls under its "Cruzado Plan." Paraguay's
principal export markets were Brazil, Peru, Chile, the EEC
(specialty items only), Colombia, Uruguay, and Saudi Arabia.
Missing from official 1987 data, however, was the unregistered sale
of an estimated 300,000 head of cattle along the Brazilian border.
Official government policy favored strong cattle development and
exports, a view articulated in national livestock programs since
the early 1960s. A major policy tool to promote livestock growth
was the FG. The FG was not only the major lender to the industry,
but it also provided certain veterinary equipment and medicine,
encouraged quality control in meat and dairy products, and operated
a model farm in the Chaco.
Dairy cattle represented only a small fraction of the total
herd. Most milk production occurred at an estimated 400 dairy farms
in Asunción, Puerto Presidente Stroessner, Encarnación, and
Filadelfia. The best yields came from holstein-friesian dairy
cattle followed by crossbreeds and criollo. High feed costs and the
general inefficiency of small dairy farmers slowed the growth of
the industry. The country produced approximately 180 million liters
of milk a year in the late 1980s.
Other livestock activity including poultry farming and the swine
industry. Some of the most productive poultry farming took place in
the Mennonite colonies, in Japanese colonies in the eastern border
region, and in the greater Asunción area. Observers estimated that
there were over 14 million chickens, 400,000 ducks, 55,000 turkeys,
and several other types of fowl. Egg production stood at 600
million per year in the late 1980s and was growing at about 4
percent a year. Pig farming was a relatively minor activity,
engaged in mostly by small farmers. The pork industry's greatest
structural problems were the high cost of feed and consumer
preferences for beef. Government policy emphasized self-sufficiency
in feed grown on small pig farms. Paraguay's swine population
amounted to roughly 1.3 million in the late 1980s and had grown at
a rate of 6 percent a year in the first half of the decade.
Data as of December 1988
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