On 5/17/07, s.artesian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On a different note or maybe not--
Yoshie, there is absolutely no correlation
between percent of population engaged in agriculture and food
self-sufficiency. On the contrary, the correlation is usually
negative. The lower the percentage of population required for
food production, the higher the gross output.
Simple, really-- substitution of machinery, technique for
labor. Productivity in agriculture being a result of
overall productivity.
Agriculture in the United States is a good example of that (cf.
<http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/AgProductivity/>), but presumably that
is not the kind of agricultural development that the Venezuelan
government plans on emulating.
Venezuela's agricultural situation is not due to too few
people engaged in food production,
It is striking that the proportion of people engaged in agriculture in
Venezuela is already close to the range of the North. What might it
mean to implement land reform in this context?
It seems to me that the problem also has a lot to do with the gap
between the natural environment of the country and a historically new
but now predominant consumption habit:
<http://www.fas.usda.gov/pecad/highlights/2005/07/July2005/Venezuela_Jul05.htm>
Venezuela: Agricultural Overview
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Wheat
According to the U.S. Agricultural Attache, wheat production in
Venezuela is negligible. The little wheat produced in the Venezuelan
Andean region is milled and consumed close to where it is harvested.
The lack of "temperate" climatic conditions and suitable land for
planting the crop are the main reasons for limited production. Though
it produces virtually no wheat, Venezuelans consume large quantities
of bread, crackers, pastries and pasta. Despite the current economic
recession in Venezuela, wheat consumption has remained strong since
pasta and bread are low-cost basic staples of the Venezuelan diet and
constitutes much of the diet of poorer Venezuelans. The consumption
of pasta has grown in the past 5 years, as low-income households began
to substitute it for meat in their diet due to falling disposable
incomes. Per capita consumption of pasta is the second highest in the
world behind Italy at 14 kg per year. Currently, wheat consumption in
Venezuela is second only to corn, and at 47 kg per capita per year
amounts to 37 percent of total national grain consumption. Venezuela
imports virtually all of its wheat requirements, and at an estimated
1.6 million tons in 2005/06 wheat makes up 70 percent of all grain
imports. Venezuela ranked 16th in total wheat imports in 2004/05,
with the world's top-5 importers being Egypt (7.7 million tons), China
(7.0), Japan (5.7), Brazil (5.0), and Algeria (4.5).
--
Yoshie
