While Paraguay's government and business sector highlight the country's strong macroeconomic performance, CONAMURI, the National Coordination of Rural and Indigenous Women, has raised concerns about worsening conditions for small producers and working families.
According to the organization, the country's current food production system reflects a deep imbalance. Paraguay is projected to export more than 10 million tons of soybeans in 2025, yet rural and urban families face high prices and shortages of staple vegetables such as tomatoes, onions, and potatoes. Price volatility and limited availability in local markets continue to affect consumers' access to essential foods.
CONAMURI stated that fruit and vegetable smuggling has further disrupted the domestic market. The group said imported produce entering the country illegally undermines local production and contributes to lower prices for small growers. Although authorities have made seizures, it said state oversight remains weak, allowing the illegal trade to continue.
Infrastructure and logistics challenges also contribute to higher costs in the domestic supply chain. Poor road conditions, high transport expenses, and low river levels have raised food distribution costs. CONAMURI also claimed that land conflicts and enforcement actions linked to the agro-export model have displaced families and damaged local crops, reducing the resilience of smallholder systems.
The organization said that these structural factors have altered food consumption patterns, with families increasingly replacing fresh produce with cheaper, lower-quality alternatives. It added that food price inflation continues to outpace general inflation, putting pressure on household budgets.
In its statement for International Food Sovereignty Day, CONAMURI argued that "the solution does not lie in agribusiness but in food sovereignty, understood as the right of peoples to decide what to produce, how to produce it, and for whom." The organization promotes the use of native and creole seeds and supports agroecological practices as a means of strengthening family and Indigenous agriculture.
The statement emphasized the role of women in maintaining local agricultural systems, including seed selection, crop management, bio-input preparation, and the preservation of medicinal plant knowledge. These practices, the group said, represent a form of resistance to industrialized agriculture.
"On this Food and Food Sovereignty Day, we call for reflection on the imposed agro-export model and on the alternatives being built from the ground up," the organization said. "Agroecology, it affirms, is not only a response to the food crisis affecting communities but also to the climate crisis threatening life on the planet. Choosing agroecology means choosing life, a future where land and food serve the people, not capital."
Source: Via Campesina
