Roberto Jorquera, Caracas
On June 26, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez hosted his weekly TV show from the city of Coro, about six hours west of Caracas on the Caribbean coast. The 226th episode of Hello President was dedicated to the launching of a new food market and "food houses", both state-run centres that provide discounted basic foodstuff.
During the program, Chavez said that the aim was to provide for more than 15 million citizens, or about 60% of the population. Mercal is a food distribution network that currently distributes over 4 million tons of food every day and employs over 47,000 people. His announced increase in the number of shops will be funded by the profits that Citgo, an affiliate of the oil industry body PDVSA, made in the US market during the first quarter of 2005.
As the central leader of the Bolivarian revolution, which is changing the face of Venezuela, Chavez has become a hero to Venezuela's poor majority, and a devil to the wealthy oligarchy that has traditionally dominated the country's parliament.
During the December 2002-January 2003 oil industry sabotage and lockout of workers, the local community joined with sections of the military and national government to provide a network of food distribution to counter the shortages caused by the lockout. This system was later organised into the Mercado de Alimentos (Mercal) food market in April 2003. At that time three shops were launched. Now, there are 14,185 such shops throughout the country.
Mercal prioritises food that is produced in Venezuela as part of an incentive to increase food production. It is estimated that Venezuela still continues to import close to 75% of its food, including rice, chicken and beans, which are a staple part of the national diet.
Sarah Wagner wrote at Venezuela Analysis <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com> on June 24, "As endogenous development has gained momentum, Mercal has steadily increased its purchases from regional and local producers to 40% of its total purchases. As a result of the support for the local agricultural industry in the form of microcredits, jobs have been created in small- and medium-sized businesses which have not only expanded but have also successfully inserted themselves into the national economy. This in turn, propels the goal of national food sovereignty.
"Purchases from local and regional businesses reduce costs in transportation, distribution and advertising, thus reducing costs for the consumer and lowering government subsidies. For example, in the state of Portuguesa, Mercal is purchasing 148% more directly from regional producers compared to when it started. This translates into 258,000 tons of products. The coordinator of the region, Xenia Briceno, notes that in the two years since the program began, it has been working towards eliminating the middle man of the commercial chain, as a means for lowering the cost of goods, bringing them directly from the hands of the producer to the hands of the consumer."
The shortage of food has been part of the ongoing problem of agricultural land ownership in Venezuela. It is estimated that 75% of the land is owned by 5% of the population. Much of this is either used for export food production and the rest is not being used at all. During the big oil boom of the early 1970s, the Venezuelan government and large industry simply relied on importing food using the oil revenues and so there was never any plan for domestic food production.
This is a key reason that Chavez has spoken out so strongly against the large landholders in Venezuela. The National Lands Institute has been able to recuperate more than 600,000 hectares of land from large landholders, but there is still a further 6 million hectares that are defined as part of large land holdings that need to be recuperated. Once recuperated the institute redistributes it to cooperatives, but up to the beginning of this year only 60,000 hectares had been redistributed.
Mercal is also the provider for the food houses, which are organised in the local communities. Up to now they had been run by volunteers from the local community but as of July, those that are working in the food houses will receive a subsidy. During the Hello President program, Chavez announced the creation of another 1000 food houses, taking the total to over 5000 nationwide.
The food houses are part of the program to feed the most needy. They are organised in the barrios by the local community to cater for 150 people. Working with Mission Barrio Adentro and the local health committees, they decide the 150 most needy people in the local community including the homeless, young children, elderly, disabled, pregnant women and people with social problems.
The lunch and afternoon tea that is provided between Monday and Saturday accounts for 77% of their necessary daily protein and calorie intake. It is planned that by the end of July the food houses will be able to provided for 900,000 people.
During his TV show, Chavez also spoke about the role of the food houses as being more than just a place for people to get food but also a place that could provide social inclusion. "They are there to open the door for those people so that they can pass from the dark to the light away from misery and poverty." Chavez went on to talk about the new socialism that Venezuela is building, "There must be inclusion as part of the socialism that we are building", said Chavez.
From Green Left Weekly, July 13, 2005.
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