The pistachio boom in Argentina clashes with the water crisis |
This article was originally published on Dialogue Earth under the Creative Commons BY NC ND licence. Cover image: aerial shot of the Pistachos de los Andes plantation in San Juan, Argentina. (Image: Celina Mutti Lovera / Dialogue Earth)
In the province of San Juan, one of the most arid in Argentina, water is more than a resource: it is a symbol. A popular legend tells the tale of a local woman, Deolinda Correa, who died of thirst in 1841 while crossing this province during the civil wars. Her baby miraculously survived and Deolinda’s legend, La Difunta, was born. The local tradition is to leave a bottle of water at her shrine; the scene reflects the daily tension in this foothills region, where water is scarce and valuable.
Paradoxically, it is this same geography that today gives life to a rapidly expanding crop: pistachios. The nut thrives in these ideal climatic conditions – cold winters, hot, dry summers – and a growing global market.
The area covered by pistachio farms has grown from about 1,000 hectares in 2013 to between 7,500 and 8,500 hectares today, according to estimates provided by the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA). San Juan currently accounts for about 90% of the cultivated area. But the essential resource needed to sustain this pistachio revolution is precisely what is most lacking in San Juan: water.
This north-western region of Argentina has been experiencing more than a decade of severe hydrological drought, exacerbated by climate change and inefficient resource management.
Water supply depends mainly on winter snowmelt, the source of which has been threatened. According to data from the Argentine Institute of Snow Research and Glaciology (IANIGLIA), exposed ice levels in the Desert Andes fell by 17% over the past 15 years, snow patches reduced by 23% and water levels in monitored glaciers fell by an equivalent of seven metres. The Centre for Research, Development and Innovation for Water Management in Arid Areas (CIGGIA) maintains that the neighbouring San Juan and Jáchal river basins have snow levels “well below the average for the past 25........