VenEconomy: Sowing Misery in Venezuela From the Editors of VenEconomy Latin American Herald Tribune March 1, 2016
It is no coincidence that Venezuela has become, for a second year in a row, the most miserable economy in 63 countries at global level ranked by Bloomberg in its annual misery index as a result of both the inflation and unemployment rates of the countries.
How not to project misery when the country is administered by people using prehistoric practices, who disregard and destroy investment, productivity and the free market in the interests of a so-called "Plan for the Homeland" leading the country down the road to hell.
Proof of this is the announcement of the "Urban Harvesting Plan" made this week by Lorena Freitez, the Minister for Urban Agriculture, a newly created Ministry by Nicolás Maduro to boost the "development and progress of the country" and combat the famine in the country as a result of 17 years of obsolete policies.
Freitez said that as part of the plan dubbed "100 days of urban agriculture," some 10,500 "agro-urban" units will be implemented throughout the main cities of the country, and these will be comprised of conucos (an ancient method used by indigenous people in which they focus on growing enough food to feed themselves and their families) and poultry breeding, in order to tackle the current food shortages. And she urged the residents of the capital (Caracas) to sow "in tires and flowerpots," while announcing the implementation of a register for agro-urban producers effective as of February 28.
This news probably was not any encouraging to the ears of a population that can barely get the essential products for their survival (food, medicines and other basic goods), and whose family income are only enough to buy less than half of their requirements.
Neither has it for those working the lands and fields of the country, who have been denied access to the foreign currency needed to buy seeds and supplies that are not produced in the country, among others, poultry feed.
It should be recalled that since 2010, when the privately-owned agricultural supply company Agroisleña was expropriated by the State and replaced for Agropatria (today in ruins), the decline of national production deepened and worsened the shortages of grains, seeds and fertilizers as a result. Not without reason, the vice president of the Confederation of Agricultural Producers Associations (Fedeagro), Aquiles Hopkins, asks the following question: what seeds are going to be used for urban agriculture if there are no seeds at all in the country?
The reality is that the country has been pushed beyond any reasonable limit, to a critical situation that should have never taken place.
First, because Venezuela is a country of fertile land with optimum conditions for agricultural and livestock development. Because Venezuela was thriving as a producer of many basic supplies such as corn, sugar cane, sorghum, coffee, vegetable oils, beef, pork and poultry, until the Government began to expropriate lands and industries, allegedly to combat the landed estates and distribute the lands to farmers. Nothing but lies!
About 2.5 million hectares have passed into the hands of the State since 1999 with this rescue plan of lands for the implementation of socialism in the agricultural arena. Today the landowner is the Venezuelan State, but a landowner that does not produce and that depends on imports to meet 80% of the requirements of the population.
Now, when imports (source of wealth of the Bolivarian rulers) became untenable after oil prices drained the public coffers, they are telling Venezuelans to set up "conucos" and “urban chicken coops.”
Maduro, here is a piece of advice from us: If you have no idea on how to make the seized lands and industries productive, give them back to their rightful owners and stop condemning the population to starvation and misery.
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