AGRICULTURAL NEWS - Brazil has recorded more than 72 000 fires so far this year with more than 50% occurring in the Amazon rainforest region. This is an 84% increase on the same period last year, according to the INPE.
Analysts have attributed this escalation in forest fires to a 278% rise in deforestation over the past month.
“Extensive cattle farming is the main driver of deforestation in the Amazon, with just over 65% of deforested land in the Amazon now being grazed,” according to Romulo Batista, a researcher at Greenpeace.
Alberto Setzer, a senior scientist at INPE, said the fires in the rainforest were traditionally the result of the agricultural practices employed by small-scale farmers, but now also stemmed from newly introduced, mechanised deforestation practices being implemented by modern agribusinesses.
Farmers usually waited until the dry season to start burning and clearing areas for cattle grazing. However, this year’s destruction had been unprecedented, he said.
