During the Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, millions of armchair fans will tuck into a tasty snack of tortilla chips and guacamole.
But unbeknown to them, in far away Colombia, local farmers are paying the price for their gastronomic pleasure, while environmentalists are warning of water pollution.
The 64-year-old lost 4,000 coffee plants and he points the finger at avocado multinationals who use copious amounts of water and even divert natural streams to satiate their thirsty crops.- 'More important than oil' - But while leftist President Gustavo Petro has embraced this crop, saying"avocados are more important than oil," environmentalists warn that the crop can pollute water sources and lead farmers to intrude on protected areas. They add that multinationals have bullied villagers into selling their land on the cheap.
Environmental activist Monica Florez says multinationals -- mostly from Chile, Mexico and Peru -- began arriving in Pijao in 2017, at the exact time that FARC guerrillas were disarming following their December 2016 peace deal with the state."There was a change in the use of the land, in economic terms and in the environmental impacts left by the companies," said Florez, director of the Pijao Cittaslow NGO.
In Michoacan, Mexico's largest avocado-growing region, organized criminal gangs subject growers to robbery, kidnappings and extortion.
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