Lack of inputs hits production of vegetables in Venezuela

[Bacchus39]

http://english.eluniversal.com/2011/03/10/lack-of-inputs-hits-production-of-vegetables-in-venezuela.shtml
The lack of inputs has led to a reduction in the crop area used by agricultural producers

Agricultural producers in the Andean region are increasingly concerned by the lack of inputs for farming activities.

Robert Maldonado, a director of the Association of Agricultural Producers of the state of Táchira (Apropatáchira), said that the production of vegetables has declined 70 percent so far this year, because supply of insecticides, herbicides and fertilizers is not enough to support crops adequately.

Maldonado added that the lack of inputs has led to a reduction in the crop area used by agricultural producers, who have been affected not only by economic losses but by crops damages.

-------

on second thought, the article seems to refer to "inputs" as fertilizer and pesticide. I thought organic farming was the answer according to the caller on Thom Hartmann.


also, interesting in the photo this is the caption: Authorities are pondering the possibility of banning the sale of agricultural items by street vendors (File photo). Looking for more info on this.

[naaman fletcher]

1. propaganda

either that, or a mistranslation.

[Bacchus39]

2. maybe it will be brought up on Thom Hartmann??? n/t

s

[Bacchus39]

3. 70%

Cuba spent $2.2 billion in 2008 to buy food, including $700 million for rice and beans combined and $250 million for powdered milk. It imports about 70 percent of its food.

Most land in Cuba remains in state hands, but private farmers and cooperatives own some 20 percent and produce more than 60 percent of the food.

The state controls the wholesale purchase and retail distribution of between 80 percent and 90 percent of all that is produced. (Reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/01/03/cuba-food-idUSN0322348420100103


Seventy percent of Venezuela's food is now imported, up from forty percent ten years ago.



The minister was silent about a different food scandal (ten-thousand times larger) that has made headlines across the world: 2,340 shipping containers with more than 120,000 tons of rotting food (estimated to feed 17 million people for one month) laying idle at Puerto Cabello. The port where the debacle took place recently became nationalized. The new incompetent management, combined with electricity rationing, led to the food putrefying as it sat in refrigerated containers. Such bungling shows that the national food supply network PDVAL, despite its status as a flagship revolutionary program and the logistical support of Venezuela's state oil company and military, is a disgraceful failure that lays bare the results of the disastrous government food policy.



Perhaps it is no surprise then that Venezuela's agricultural policy is modeled on that of another country with chronic food shortages -- communist Cuba. Agricultural advisors have joined the ranks of Cuban teachers, military advisors and doctors in providing expertise to the Venezuelan government. In rhetoric that harkens back to the days of Soviet communism, Venezuelan policymakers speak of land reform, not to create small farms, but to expropriate large working farms and turn them into "cooperatives" with no private property.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thor-halvorssen/a-rotting-chicken-in-ever_b_666805.html

[naaman fletcher]

4. This I am sure is the fault of those who were in power before chavez. nt.

[joshcryer]

5. Oil makes states complacent, and lazy.

There's a good article about Dubai on this particular concept. It's free money, let the contractors in, and sit back fat and happy. No states use the money to build a sustainable future for themselves. None.