Economia do esgotamento: há sustentabilidade na intensificação biotecnológica da soja “pronta para” se desenvolver no Pará?

Abstract

The idea of a biotechnology capable of reducing the use of pesticides in the tropical cultivation of soybeans (Glycine max) hit the market with a "sustainable" status and delighted producers, promising higher yields and, for this reason, profitability. In Pará, however, the promises of delivering more with the same investment have not held up over time. From resistance to Glyphosate to the expression of a mutant insecticide gene (Cry1A.105), the level of current technology delivers a seed capable of degrading herbicides and eliminating entire populations of insects, in theory with fewer inputs and equal grain quality; would this increase in efficiency also have helped to preserve land, as Borlaug's (HB) hypothesis infers? On the other hand, this biotechnological intensification could paradoxically increase the demand for the resource, due to market pressures, resulting in an increase in the area planted and more expenditure on land use. Positive correlations were found between moments of intensification and growth in planted area, confirming previous observations in the biome. Given the complexity of commodities and the context in which they are inserted, explaining the increase in pressure on the soil required a shift in scope; from the idea of the Paradox and market demand to an investigation of biotechnology itself; the result generated a model capable of calculating the increase in direct demand on mineral stocks in the soil, as a result of the biotechnology onboard the seed. The exploitation of the “mineral energy” of the lands to the south of Pará is explained through a hypothetical-deductive variable, in kilojoules, based on the mechanics of the laws of Conservation and Mass Action. The models resulting of these research process provide the possibility of estimating the demand for extra energy due to the expression of exogenous protein (DEEPE), and possible mineral correspondence in the Deterioration of Assets by Demineralization (DAD), at different scenarios, as a tool to help producers in choosing the type of crop and biotechnology onboards the seed. So furthering conscious choices through crucial questions; what comes out of the pocket, comes out of where and at what price? Is there sustainability, even economically, in the biotechnological trajectory of Soy in Pará? For how long is that before the foreseen exhaustion?