“Ya basta de fumigar, nuestra comunidad necesita sembrar”. Ambiente y salud en territorios indígenas de la provincia del Chaco

The province of Chaco is one of the jurisdictions in northern Argentina which, at an early stage, incorporated changes in land use, large areas of deforested native forests and spraying with toxic products. At the regional level, this has led to the emergence of conflicts related to the levels of environmental contamination and the affectation of human and non-human health. This article describes and analyzes the conflicts surrounding the environmental and health effects derived from the use of agrochemicals in the province of Chaco. Specifically, it focuses on two localities belonging to the department of Libertador General San Martín (Pampa del Indio and Presidencia Roca), where fumigations affect the quality of life of indigenous peoples, small criollo farmers and peasants. Based on the analysis of diverse secondary sources together with interviews and field work, we approach the dispute of interests and meanings that has as protagonists the local inhabitants who, facing the imposition of an agribusiness model that excludes and sickens bodies and territories, resist and build alternatives of possible worlds, as is the case of the NO¨OXONEC experience of agroecological cotton production.