Climate woes, government controls hit Bolivia's farmers

But nature wasn't the only cause. Farmers also blame the government for imposing price controls and export restrictions instead of letting the free market prevail as it does in nearly all the other Latin American countries similarly suffering bad weather.

In Bolivia's eastern lowlands, soybeans that would ordinarily have been exported languished in their silos because they could not find local buyers.

“We were already being battered by the climate when the government came out with these decrees prohibiting exports,” said Demetrio Perez, a soy farmer who is president of the National Association of Oil Seed Producers. “With the restrictions, an incentive to plant more was lost.”

Sunflower crops rotted in the fields because farmers could neither sell locally nor get export licenses from an inefficient bureaucracy.

“It was a disaster,” said Susano Terceros, who lost part of his sunflower crop.

The political cost for President Evo Morales is high. After winning re-election by a landslide in 2009, his approval rating is now about 45 percent. He is now seeking advice from the farmers, including agribusinessmen in the pro-capitalist east where his fiercest political foes reside.

In December, at a time when food shortages were already being felt, the government decided to eliminate gasoline subsidies, which would have raised fuel prices more than 70 percent. Thousands took to the streets in protest, forcing Morales to back down.

His government had imposed price controls and an export ban on corn, wheat, sugar and other staples in 2007. Two years later, it added vegetable oils, sunflower seeds and soybeans to the list of staples that could only be exported if officials decided the domestic market was adequately supplied.

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