Maduro promised to give credits to several producers to double their production, while affirming that “2024 is a good date to harvest (…) Venezuela has recovered the real economy that produces goods and services with its own efforts, its own hands, its own minds”
During the first international coffee meeting, organized by Venezuela, the ruler Nicolás Maduro recognized “wrong policies” from a few years ago to maintain coffee production and crops in the country.
In his speech, as part of the “economy Wednesdays”, Maduro highlighted that currently 18 quintals of coffee per hectare are produced in the country, and a 17% growth of these crops is expected by 2022.
Nicolás Maduro said that years ago, after the abandonment of crops due to these “wrong policies”, a plan was started to renew plantations, gourmet certification and training of producers. “It is important that we know these data to understand the recovery of the coffee sector.”
378 gourmet coffee brands are recognized and registered. The first producing state is Lara, followed by Portuguesa, Trujillo, Mérida, Táchira, Monagas and Sucre. These states produce 85% of the coffee consumed in the country, according to data provided by the government official.
#In figures | Venezuela produces 18 quintals of coffee per hectare
“This is only the beginning of a growth process that we are going to carry out,” stressed the Head of State @NicolasMaduro pic.twitter.com/bebd9W70RM
— Presidential Press (@PresidentialVen) May 4, 2022
He also highlighted that there are 37 seed producers (seed and seedling production centers), 95 associations of coffee producers or processors, and 308 roasters.
*Also read: Producers and NGOs promote cultivation of coffee and other agricultural products under shade
The covid-19 pandemic and those “misguided policies” impacted production. In the coffee harvest carried out between October 2020 and January 2021 Approximately 450,000 quintals of green coffee (20,700 tons, on average) were harvested, one of the worst harvests in the history of coffee growing in Venezuela. It represented a drop of 77% compared to the 91,877 tons that were harvested in 2001.
Maduro promised to give credits to several producers to double their production, while affirming that “2024 is a good date to harvest (…) Venezuela has recovered the real economy that produces goods and services with its own efforts, its own hands, its own minds.”
He asked producers to think about exporting, and even recommended that they allocate 20% of their production to enter the international market. “It is important to think about the domestic market with good quality and good prices, and to think about the foreign market for churupitos (sic), to maintain quality public policies.”
#Live ? | I International Meeting of Venezuelan Specialty Coffee 2022. https://t.co/KAMpFw0lhR
– Nicolas Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) May 4, 2022
The official also referred to the recent meeting on climate change, and said that they are thinking “of new technologies for food production that will be impacted” by this phenomenon.
Maduro also reiterated that he does not like the phrase “Venezuela is fixing itself”, and said that in reality “Venezuela is improving, recovering, Venezuela is going forward thanks to the efforts of entrepreneurs and workers”
For her part, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez commented that, within the framework of the dialogue with the National Council of Economy, coffee is a product protected with tariffs, “so the protection of our coffee prevails.”
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