Venezuelan gov't policies deal a heavy blow to domestic agriculture

With the Great Mission Agro Venezuela as his spearhead, Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez is hanging his hat on the growth of agriculture in 2012 to cement his new development model: the socialist productive economy.

In order to monitor agriculture and cattle-raising plans, Chávez instructed Executive Vice President Elías Jaua, who is also the Acting Minister of Agriculture and Lands, "to devote 99% of his time to the agricultural sector."

As part of a plan to encourage production, Chávez announced that the government is setting up the Higher Council on Agriculture and the relaunch of the Great Mission Agro Venezuela, which will be headed by the Venezuelan president.

Chávez proposed minister Jaua to ponder the creation of regional agriculture vice-ministries.

During the 378th edition of Hello President, his weekly radio and TV show, Chávez said last Sunday that, through the Great Mission Agro Venezuela, the government granted 200% more credits to the agriculture sector in 2011 than in 2010, and 198% more loans than in 2008. He added that "the results of these policies must be reflected in primary production."

Chávez stressed that there was an increase in the production of pigeon pea, sweet potato, cassava, cotton, tomato, beans, pepper, black beans, banana, and oranges, among other items.

"It has been a year since it (the Great Mission Agro Venezuela) was launched. We have been assessing achievements and problems, delays and failures and now we are going to relaunch the 2012 Mission, heading to 2013," the president said.

However, the agriculture policies implemented by the Executive Office have not yielded the expected results. The Venezuelan president did not mention, for instance, that the production of six food items, that are viewed as strategic by the government, decreased in 2011, namely, white and yellow corn, soybean, oil palm, sugarcane and plantains, as shown in the Annual Report and Accounts of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands (MAT).

Juan Carlos Loyo, the former minister of Agriculture, recently said that the agricultural sector only grew 1% in 2011, despite an increase in government financing through the Mission Agro Venezuela.

Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas