Agricultural producers in Venezuela demanded this Wednesday the “same level” of attention, investment and legal security that, they claim, is being given to oil and mining, areas prioritized by the Government of the acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, given the express interest of the United States in these resources.
The president of the Confederation of Associations of Agricultural Producers (Fedeagro), Osman Quero, told EFE that agriculture “also deserves the attention” that these sectors receive, denouncing that they face, among other problems, failures in the electricity supply and the smuggling of vegetables in states such as Táchira (west), bordering Colombia.
He also warned about the lack of financing for the purchase of supplies and the renewal of machinery.
“We do not consider it appropriate for the agricultural sector to simply be relegated or considered to be able to wait. We have specific planting deadlines, we work with the weather, and if we miss a planting plan, we simply have to wait until next year,” he explained.
In that sense, Quero affirmed that the country deserves that the income received through hydrocarbons or mining “permeate in all sectors”, for which he proposes a “structural plan” that, he explained, determines how investments will be made in the different areas, including agriculture.
According to Fedeagro, agriculture represents the first or second economic activity in 17 of the 24 states recognized by the Venezuelan Government, which includes Guayana Esequiba.
The leader previously considered in a press conference that it is time “for those in charge of the country to understand that the field deserves the same level of strategic attention,” as well as “the same investment and legal security, that today is being granted to hydrocarbons and mining.”
«Oil may be precisely the energy of today, but agriculture is life as always. Without national production protected from smuggling and violence, and without financing that lives up to our potential, there will be no real or lasting economic recovery in the national agricultural system,” he warned.
On the other hand, he warned about insecurity in the countryside and the “vulnerability of producers” in the state of Guárico (center), where, according to agricultural organizations, a rancher was murdered last February.
Fedeagro hopes to maintain dialogue with the Agriculture and Land portfolio, now led by former Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López, to address these problems.
