|
Venezuela Crops
Food Crops
Despite gains in the production of some grains and
cereals,
urbanization and changing dietary patterns increased
Venezuela's
dependence on imports of basic foods during the 1980s. The
migration of farmers to urban areas reduced the output of
traditional food crops such as yucca (cassava), potatoes,
and
other inexpensive tubers; higher wheat imports compensated
for
this decline. The growing popularity of wheat products in
Venezuela drove imports steadily higher because the
country's
warm climate was not conducive to the cultivation of
wheat.
Corn was the country's major domestic food crop. Most
of
Venezuela's corn crop came from the central plains,
particularly
the states of Portuguesa, Barinas, and Guárico. A
traditional
staple, corn surpassed coffee as the nation's leading crop
in the
1960s; by 1988 farmers cultivated corn on some 642,000
hectares.
Total production was 1.28 million tons in that year. After
declining in the 1970s, corn production flourished in the
1980s,
largely because of the agricultural policies of the
mid-1980s
that provided import protection and stimulated greater
food selfsufficiency . Despite the gains of corn producers, however,
the
costs of corn production remained relatively high, which
indicated that domestic production would be vulnerable to
the
effects of external competition under the market-oriented
reforms
initiated by the government in the early 1990s.
Sorghum became a major grain in the mid-1970s. A
droughtresistant crop, it was introduced to Venezuela because it
could
tolerate the country's unpredictable precipitation
pattern.
Sorghum, like corn, was grown nationwide and sorghum
production
enjoyed rapid growth during the 1980s. In 1988 sorghum
covered
some 392,000 hectares, which yielded approximately 820,000
tons
of grain. The popularity of sorghum in the 1980s was
closely
linked with the quick expansion of the national pork and
poultry
industries, which used sorghum as their major feed grain.
Although domestic production increased, however, it could
not
keep pace with demand. Consequently, imports of sorghum
also
climbed throughout the decade.
Rice was another major grain. Rice production doubled
during
the 1970s, mainly because of the increased use of
irrigation. In
the 1980s, however, rice production fell rapidly. Weather
variations accounted for some fluctuations in production,
but the
central cause of the decline was poor technical expertise
in both
cultivation and irrigation techniques. Rice paddies
covered some
116,500 hectares of land and yielded 383 tons of rice in
1988; at
its peak in 1981, rice grew on some 243,000 hectares and
yielded
681,000 tons. Frustrated by the inadequacy of available
technology, many rice farmers had switched to other crops
by the
late 1980s. Many of these producers had complained about
the
inadequate levels of credit available from the government,
as
well as the low prices the government paid for their
crops.
Farmers grew rice throughout the country, with the
exceptions
of the extreme west and south. Farmers who cultivated
irrigated
rice, especially those in Portuguesa and Guárico, yielded
as many
as 2.5 crops a year, whereas dry rice farmers brought in
only one
crop, during the rainy season (May-November).
Farmers also cultivated a wide variety of tubers,
legumes,
vegetables, fruits, and spices. Principal tuber crops
consisted
of yucca, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and yautia. In some
areas,
peasants milled cassava for use as a flour. Legumes
included
yellow, black, and white beans, as well as a local pulse
called
quinchoncho. Vegetables included tomatoes, lettuce,
cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, eggplant, cucumber, beets,
and
peas. The more moderate regions of Venezuela were also
suitable
for a wide variety of fruits. Depending on the seasonal
crop, the
country exported small amounts of tropical fruits.
Data as of December 1990
|
