People who care for animals and the environment protested in Buenos Aires on Monday against a deal with Beijing to make the country a major supplier of pork to China.
The groups said the agreement would increase industrial pig farms in the country and the risk of virus outbreaks. Producing more pork means breeding and killing more pigs, 14 times more than the current situation.
“We are denouncing this deal that they (Argentine government) want to sign with China, to set up large pork production farms. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today that the deal would be signed in November because they are discussing the environmental and biosafety protocols,” demonstrator Celeste Fierro said.
“They want to move forward with this deal, despite the protocols they (Argentine government) now say they want to discuss. The only thing that motivates them is the incoming amount of dollars that will continue paying a scam like the foreign debt,” she continued.
According to official data, in 2019 Argentina produced 630,000 tons of pork. Foreign Minister Felipe Sola said in July that Argentina could produce 9 million tons of pork with Chinese backing, over 14 times current levels.
