Accounting for pastoralists in Argentina

Abstract

No official statistics exist on pastoralism in Argentina, so their number is not known. Between 30,000 to 35,000 households practise pastoralism, estimates Red Chaco based on the 2018 National Census. In some areas, pastoralism is alive as a mobile, extensive production system. Despite the uncertainty about the precise numbers, pastoralists play a significant role in Argentinian agriculture and society. Argentina is a large but highly urbanized country, with 92% of the population living in towns and cities. Only 13.2% of the country is agriculturally well endowed; 70% of the land is semi-arid, and much of the rest is mountainous or too cold for growing crops. Livestock-raising is the main form of agriculture in such marginal areas, either as ranching or as pastoralism.