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Dear Cosmic Travel,

Hi there!! Our trip was unforgettable, and I would absolutely do it again. The guide we got was a great guy, and we had a great time (it would be hard to not have a good time in the Salar).It was the most amazing experience I had. Read more...

Michael Smith ,
usa.

Agriculture and forestry accounted for 14 percent of Bolivia's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2003, down from 28 percent in 1986. Combined, these activities employ nearly 44 percent of Bolivia's workers. Most agricultural workers are engaged in subsistence farming - the dominant economic activity of the highlands region. Agricultural production in Bolivia is complicated by both the country's topography and climate. High elevations make farming difficult, as do the El Niño weather patterns and seasonal flooding. Bolivia's agricultural GDP continues to rise but has attained only a rather modest average growth rate of 2.8 percent annually since 1991.
Bolivia's most lucrative agricultural product continues to be coca, of which Bolivia is currently the world's third largest cultivator (after Colombia and Peru), with an estimated 29,500 hectares under cultivation in 2007, increased slightly when compared to 2006. Bolivia is the third largest producer of cocaine, estimated at 120 metric tons potential pure cocaine in 2007 and a transit country for Peruvian and Colombian cocaine destined for Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Europe. The Bolivian government, in response to international pressure, has worked to restrict coca cultivation for the use of producing cocaine. However, eradication efforts have been hampered by the lack of a suitable replacement crop for rural communities that have cultivated coca for generations. The Morales government turned back some of the results obtained in previous years.
Since 2001, Bolivia's leading legal agricultural export has been soybeans. Additionally, cotton, coffee, and sugarcane have been viable exports for Bolivia. For domestic consumption, corn, wheat, and potatoes are the crops of choice of Bolivian farmers. Despite its vast forests, Bolivia has only a minor timber industry. In 2003 timber accounted for only 3.5 percent of export earnings. The Forestry Law of 1996 imposed a tax on sawn timber and consequently cut Bolivian timber exports significantly. The tax was used to establish the Forestry Stewardship Council, which has been only minimally successful in forest restoration efforts and eliminating illegal logging. With increased efficiency, Bolivia could likely expand the profitability of its forest resources, while still protecting them from overexploitation. Bolivia has a small fishing industry that taps the country's freshwater lakes and streams. The annual catch averages about 6,000 tons.
Agriculture and forestry is also the life line for multitudes of small villages which support majority of the population. Small village economy stumbles and even dwindles in the past three decades, due to aggravating environmental problems, like deforestation, soil degradation, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and so on. Besides, political and social problems also greatly obstruct the growth of small village development: political turmoil, post-civil war predicament and burgeoning fiscal deficit have strangled most investment incentives; corruption and manipulation of water supply by foreign companies have greatly undermined the availability and efficiency of local market, leaving little profits for village farmers and producers. Furthermore, global market even poses a threat to the stability and sustainability of Bolivia's frail economy: “a drop in export prices, reduction of informal trade” and low-skilled over-homogenized local products have further worsened the bleak condition of Bolivia's microeconomic activities , making it almost impossible for village farms and factories to make a living from trading with the world. Dwindling profits and surging cost of production have made small villages economy in Bolivia extremely venerable and unstable; as a result, unemployment rate sours and small business is on the verge of bankruptcy, which in return made government intervention very inefficient and deferred many governmental initiatives and attempts to improve the condition. Without external help and subsidies, Bolivia is literally unable to extricate itself from the vicious circle; and with all the other problems intertwined and tightening, Bolivia's microeconomic outlook is very unpromising, as BBC puts it, a “bleak future for Bolivia's economic future”.

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