2013 Skype Link 2 - Growing Change

Bernardo Loaiza is an ecologist, he works for the government Institute of Ecology and Environment, and has connections with Agriculture Venezuela and the Ministry of Agriculture. He lives in Merida, in the Andes and is a leading member of the “La Manga” agro-ecological collective.

Introduction

Since the coming of the revolution we have rescued more than 2 million hectares of land which have been given to the peasant workers. On these lands we have produced the most important foodstuffs for the Venezuelan diet. These policies are a direct result of what happened in 2002 when during the oil lock out the people were pretty much without food and with nothing to eat. These lands are given to peasants, rural workers through organisational structures, and they are also given finance and the means of production to be able to produce crops on these lands. This represents one of the most important and fundamental facts of the revolution here and that is that popular power is able to take charge of the means of production. We are creating links between collectives to improve the organisation and the sovereignty of our food production.

The fundamental focus of the collective where I work is the production of seeds. As a way of countering the policies of transnational corporations like Monsanto who come and poison our rural workers and our lands. Many thanks on behalf of my collective of ecological workers.

Within the film we saw some urban gardens; could these be economically viable without government subsidy?

These projects are initially financed by the government but the idea is that the families and the communities then take them forward and make them self-sufficient to cover the dietary needs in that family.

The idea of the state intervention is to equip the families and the communities to then be able to take forward projects on their own.

The idea is that every member of the family and the community can and should be able to participate and there is no area too small that can’t be used be used for such production.

The idea is also to train the families and communities in the use of chemicals in agricultural production and the damage the chemicals do and the effect they have on the dietary system. They are trained to produce their own seeds so that they become independent of the state’s policy.

Are there still food shortages, especially of basics? If this is the case, is it sabotage?

In our country we have all of the basic foodstuffs that we need. There are certain products such as corn and cornflour which although production has increased, the large corporations have been found to be hoarding the products to the detriment of the people.

The same corporations through the means of communication which they control make it so that the people start panic buying which will create shortages.

But all of the basic dietary requirements of people are covered by the policies of the government.

A more general question, what is President Maduro planning to do with the special powers he is asking for and how will it help him to make things work?

This isn’t the first time that the president of our country has requested special enabling powers. The idea is that it enables the president to legislate in areas where the National Assembly is still not effectively working. One of the fundamental problems in our country at the moment is corruption so the special powers which have been requested will enable the president to work on this theme in a way that other legislative and judicial bodies haven’t been fully effective.

Especially in the private sector, working with private firms, who have sown corruption and encouraged the public institutions in some way to tell their values and principles.

In the film there was reference to Community Councils which seem to meet every 21 days and have some input into food production and so on. Can you give us more information on those please?

Popular power in our county is evident in various different ways. For example Community Councils, peasant’ organisations, communes, building collectives, collectives of ecologists working for food sovereignty.

All of the laws which are passed in our country go through the hands of popular power. They’re discussed by the people.

In our constitution in Article 5 it’s stipulated that the laws have to go through popular power and that popular power plays a protagonist role in legislation in our country.

For example, it is the very same collectives of popular power that are requesting the special powers for President Maduro.

Why did Bernardo become interested in agriculture, and why did he follow that particular path in life?

I started to see how the transnationals were managing and controlling the environmental agricultural sector and how the food and crop production is in the hands of a small number of people across the globe.

As well as the big effects like climate change, deforestation, and other ways in which humans have been ignoring pachamama, Mother Nature. Here in our collective we’re trying to promote a return to ancestral ecology, a more sane ecology with traditional values. We use in reality our own model of agriculture not that which the capitalist transnationals have imposed on us.

In the current national plan of government, the plan of the nation, one of the historical objectives is proposed to be the salvation of the human planet which enables ecological collectives and groupings to contribute to save Mother Nature and the planet.

How can you participate in preventing the corruption by business of limiting food?

First and foremost to organise and to promote the anti-corruption policies which are coming from the central government. The collective that I belong to support the policies which are being implemented by the revolutionary government.

And at the same time for the very same collectives to make proposals and to send projects to the central government whereby we can manage resources and credit/micro-credit to take these projects forward.

And to continue presenting ideas to the bourgeois state because it still is a bourgeois structure to change this state of corruption which we have.

Another factor which we ecologists can implement here on the ground is to not fall into the trap of multi-national seed production, to encourage local and indigenous seed production.

To use our own genetic resources, and not to rely on the transnational intervention to dictate our dietary and crop production.

And to manage the land which has been rescued from the large land owners to make sure that it is used for crop production in a way that is good to the environment.

The film described land becoming fallow because in the oil boom years, farmers didn’t want to farm the land, and agricultural workers went into the city.

Has something happened to redistribute the land or is it still owned by the same people, and what incentive is there for people to move out into the countryside to farm again?

The policy of the government is to encourage the peasant and the rural worker to go back to the land and to return to rural production, and focuses around giving the land back to the peasant, giving it with title deeds and giving them credit to stimulate production.

As well as creating a legal structure and laws to protect the rural worker and the peasant in their place of work on the land, for example creating a social security network including health and education and housing which includes the rural workers.

Because of these sorts of policies the rural workers and their sons and daughters feel more comfortable working on the land, for example their sons and daughters will now have university level education in their municipalities and won’t have to go to the city to look for such services.

Are there many vegetarians in Venezuela, and has there been any change in meat production?

Before the arrival of the revolution the people here consumed very small quantities of vegetables and meat. Thanks to the policies implemented the consumption of those products has grown considerably.

Vegetarians have been motivated to stimulate production of vegetables.

And for those of us who eat meat, the level of consumption of meat has gone from 15 kilos of meat per person per year to 37 kilos.

Has there been an exchange of ideas with Cuba who have good ecological and pharmaceutical development?

Yes with our Cuban brothers we have had many exchanges on a technical level about methods of production. We have considered the urban agriculture that they have implemented successfully there. There has been an exchange of technicians to help training in relation to agro-ecology, respecting the special features of each revolution.

I have no further questions from the audience at the moment. I heard mention of growing tea, that can go with your sandwiches when you get marmite.

Can I give you a huge thank you and a huge gracias to Bernardo for doing this link, we can improve the technical link and we look forward to the next film. Thank you very much.