Agriculture in Venezuela

History

Prior to the 1950s and the initiation of large-scale oil exports, agriculture, fishing, and forestry were central to the Venezuelan economy, producing more than half the gross domestic product (GDP). As late as the 1930s, agriculture still provided 22% of GDP and employed 60% of the labor force. As the petrochemical industry expanded rapidly in the 1970s and 1980s, however, the proportion of the labor force in agriculture dropped from one-fifth to about one-tenth. By 1988 agriculture contributed only 5.9% of GDP, employed 13% of the labor force, and furnished barely 1% of total exports. Agriculture has continued to decline, accounting for about 5% of GDP and 10% of employment in 2004. According to a 1997 government survey, 3.4m hectares of land are suitable for farming (and a further 17.1m hectares suitable for pasture) - but only 0.7m hectares were employed in grain production.

Venezuela saw several attempts at land reform before 1998. During the brief first period of democracy (El Trienio Adeco, 1945–48), the Democratic Action government redistributed land which it said had been gained illicitly by members of previous governments, and in mid-1948 it enacted an agrarian reform law.

Bolivarian Revolution

Main article: Bolivarian Revolution, Economic policy of the Hugo Chávez government, Mission Vuelta al Campo, Mission Zamora

Chávez' land reform program has been the subject of criticism from a variety of sources, with farmers said to be lacking sufficient government support, particularly in the case of urban residents moving to the countryside to develop farming cooperatives.

The government has confiscated and expropriated much of the industry, state intervention has seriously damaged the agricultural sector, and Venezuela imports most of its food. There are persistent shortages of common foodstuffs. The government blamed "hoarders" and "speculators" for food shortages.

The government created Misión Agro-Venezuela to support small and medium farm production of the basic foods most commonly consumed in the country.

Production

Venezuela produced in 2019:

• 4.3 million tons of sugarcane;
• 1.9 million tons of maize;
• 1.4 million tons of banana;
• 760 thousand tons of rice;
• 485 thousand tons of pineapple;
• 477 thousand tons of potato;
• 435 thousand tons of palm oil;
• 421 thousand tons of cassava;
• 382 thousand tons of orange;
• 225 thousand tons of watermelon;
• 199 thousand tons of papaya;
• 194 thousand tons of melon;
• 182 thousand tons of tomatoes;
• 155 thousand tons of tangerine;
• 153 thousand tons of coconut;
• 135 thousand tons of avocado;
• 102 thousand tons of mango (including mangosteen and guava);
• 56 thousand tons of coffee;

In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products. Due to internal economic and political problems, sugar cane production dropped from 7.3 million tons in 2012 to 3.6 million in 2016. Corn production dropped from 2.3 million tons in 2014 to 1, 2 million in 2017. Rice fell from 1.15 million tons in 2014 to 498 thousand tons in 2016.

References

References

1. [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Venezuela.pdf Venezuela country profile]. [[Library of Congress]] [[Federal Research Division]] (March 2005). ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the [[public domain]].''
2. [[USDA]], [http://www.fas.usda.gov/pecad/highlights/2005/07/July2005/Venezuela_Jul05.htm Venezuela: Agricultural Overview] {{webarchive. link. (26 April 2009 , accessed 21 May 2009)
3. Alexander, Robert. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2116216 "Nature and Progress of Agrarian Reform in Latin America."] ''The Journal of Economic History''. Vol. 23, No. 4 (Dec., 1963), pp 559-573.
4. Most of the land redistributed in this way was returned to its previous owners during the 1948-58 dictatorship of [[Marcos Pérez Jiménez]]. After the 1958 restoration of democracy, a new land reform law was enacted in March 1960, with reform in the early 1960s concentrated in the northeastern states of [[Miranda (state)|Miranda]], [[Aragua]] and [[Carabobo]], and coming largely from expropriated private landholdings. The reform was accompanied by a considerable increase in agricultural production. Ultimately the reform saw about 200,000 families receive transfers of land, largely in the early 1960s.Gregory Wilpert, "[https://books.google.com/books?id=taHztaX28fcC&pg=PA251 Land for people not profit in Venezuela]", in Peter Rosset, Raj Patel, Michael Courville, Land Research Action Network (2006), ''Promised land: competing visions of agrarian reform''. Food First Books. p251
5. [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106620230 In Venezuela, Land Redistribution Program Backfires] by [[Juan Forero]], ''NPR'', 15 July 2009
6. (12 June 2010). "Venezuelan socialism: Food fight". [[The Economist]].
7. (15 January 2013). "Venezuela Food Shortages Reveal Potential Problems During Chavez Absence". Huffington Post.
8. (9 February 2013). "Venezuela's economy: Out of stock". [[The Economist]].
9. (October–November 2013). "Venezuela: Farm Mechanisation Gets Public Support". Mondo Macchina.
10. [http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC/ Venezuela production in 2019, by FAO]
11. [http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC/ Venezuela production, by FAO]