The state of Mérida, one of the most important agricultural regions in Venezuela, suffers from a severe fuel shortage since 2020 when the national government created a “rationing plan” amid the lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

To cope with the lack of fuel, the government negotiated the import of Iranian gasoline. From that moment on, the country’s gas stations were classified under a new scheme for the sale of fuel; some offered it at a subsidized price ($ 0.08 per gallon) and others at an international price ($ 1.89 per gallon).

Although the decision improved the situation, the states in western Venezuela, especially the state Mérida, continued to experience fuel shortages, since the subsidized stations are not supplied frequently while the stations that offer the product at international prices limited sales based on the last digit of the customers’ car plates. For this reason, the lines at gas stations in the state of Mérida returned in January 2021, and as of June 25, 2021, only 6 stations out of 70 in the region are selling gas, all of them at international prices.

Stranded farmers

Alfonso Morales, farmer and leader of the farmers’ union, denounced that only subsidized stations are selling fuel in the mountainous areas of the state, which contributes to the shortage and makes it difficult for farmers to fill their trucks with diesel. Morales stated that “some farmers in the area can only fill their tanks every two months”, and “sometimes they are sold only 5 gallons per vehicle”, inadequate for trucks that need some 160 gallons of diesel to transport the farm produce from Mérida to Caracas and return.

In this regard, the president of the Venezuelan Family Farming Association (AVAF), Juan Carlos Montesinos, stated in a press release that the agricultural sector requires around 185 thousand gallons of diesel per day to work during the rainy season, which started in May. However, the newspaper El País specified that the daily production in Venezuela is approximately 50 thousand barrels. Given the high demand, producers must buy diesel in the black market, where the price can reach $ 7.50 per gallon.

In early June, diesel stocks disappeared even from the black market of Mérida and small gasoline trucks, motorcycles, carts, and animals began to be used to supply local food markets.

Crop loss

With the worsening of the fuel shortage and the impossibility to move the harvest from one place to another, 50 tons of vegetables were lost in the Venezuelan Andean region, according to information provided by Antonio Escalona Araujo, president of the Agricultural and Livestock Union of the Andes (Unagandes).

Also, crops such as lettuce, carrots, and potatoes are at greater risk of being lost during the rainy season because they must be cleaned regularly with fumigation equipment that operates with gasoline. Morales commented that this situation has delayed the production during the rainy season sowing cycle.

Other obstacles

Escalona explained that the rainy season sowing cycle is the most important and productive of the year in Venezuela. However, this cycle could be lost because “farmers are unable to use diesel-propelled equipment for the work of tillage, sowing, fumigation, harvesting, and transportation.” He also commented that “the lack of fuel prevents more than 90% of farmers from starting sowing.”

The president of the business union of the state of Mérida, Cesar Guillén, added that the low quality of fuel, used for both vehicles and agricultural machinery, generates negative consequences on the state of the equipment and increases its maintenance costs.

These obstacles for food production have created delays in the harvests because farmers have been forced to use old techniques to carry out their daily chores. Morales said that oxen are being used to plow the land, which delays the work for weeks. He explained that it takes up to 15 days to plow a hectare of land with oxen, while a tractor would do the job in about four hours.

Morales stated that “the countryside has gone back in time” due to the lack of new technologies to facilitate the work of farmers. Also, he commented on the current shortage of agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertilizers, which are unaffordable for many farmers because they are priced in US dollars while their produce is sold in national currency.

As a result, “many farmers are forced to cross the Colombian border to get the supplies” Morales added. Regarding this, Andrés Ramírez, a member of the Farmers Association of Mérida, told a local radio station that some 5,000 farmers from the mountainous areas of the state “are moving their agricultural work to Colombia” to provide for their families. Likewise, he mentioned that smuggling networks come from Colombia to sell potatoes, onions, and garlic, to detriment of local agricultural production.

Food security at risk

The uncertainty of Venezuela’s agricultural production due to the obstacles discussed also raises the final price of agricultural products for consumers, which contributes to food insecurity in the country.

A study published by the Venezuelan Observatory on Food Security and Nutrition (OVSAN), supports Escalona’s warning: “the shortage of diesel in the country heralds an unprecedented food shortage in Venezuela.”

This research, conducted between December 2020 and February 2021, describes the situation in Venezuela as “extremely alarming” according to the Global Food Security Index (GFSI), especially in rural areas where the “economic activities that could serve to alleviate the shortage of food and its high prices, such as agriculture, have been neglected”.

In Venezuela, food insecurity increased between 2018 and 2019-20, according to the ENCOVI report. Between 2019 and 2020, 88% of Venezuelan families expressed concern about the lack of food supply, between 76% and 79% presented deterioration in food diversity, and more than 30% experienced hunger. All households reported concern about food security, some due to not having enough food and others due to having experienced hunger, including 58% of households in which at least a member of the family was forced to eat less, stopped eating (30%) or ran out of food (54%).

Also, moderate and severe food insecurity went from 69% in November 2020 to 74% at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. This situation occurred at all income levels with values ​​greater than 89%, and the three most precarious levels had a calorie consumption below the recommended daily minimum.

Translated by José Rafael Medina