Thanks to the implementation of correct agrifood policies and diverse social programs, the Bolivarian Government has placed Venezuela among the first 10 better nourished countries in the world.

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ONU destaca que Venezuela está comprometida con los objetivos de desarrollo del milenio

Caracas, 15 Ene. AVN .- El embajador de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas ante Venezuela, Alfredo Missair, aseveró este sábado que el país está comprometido con los objetivos de desarrollo del milenio y ha avanzado en este sentido.

Missair, quien tiene un año en el territorio nacional verificando los logros de Venezuela en la materia, destacó que desde que llegó se ha encontrado con la disposición del presidente de la República, Hugo Chávez, para alcanzar dichas metas.

“No cabe ninguna duda que la República Bolivariana de Venezuela está comprometida con los objetivos de desarrollo del milenio, está lográndolos, y está avanzando firmemente para que en el año 2015, cuando se rendirán las cuentas finales, tenga un muy buen papel que jugar”, expresó.

Estas declaraciones las ofreció minutos antes de que el Jefe de Estado presentara la memoria y cuenta del año 2010, acto efectuado en el Hemiciclo de la Asamblea Nacional, en Caracas.

“Hubo una iniciativa enorme de capacitación en todo lo que es la política social”, resaltó.

Missair destacó que tanto en las áreas de acceso a la educación, como servicios a la salud y erradicación de la pobreza, Venezuela es un caso ejemplar.

Del año 2007 a 2009 el indicador de desarrollo humano, que mide el acceso a la educación, la esperanza de vida, erradicación de la pobreza, ya se había incrementado cuatro puntos.

12:23 15/01/2011

FAO reconoce logros de Venezuela en reducción de hambre

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16 Oct 2010  -  El representante de la FAO en Venezuela, Alfredo Missair, afirmó este sábado que la nación suramericana va en la dirección correcta en la reducción del porcentaje de personas que padecen hambre, uno de los objetivos del Milenio de cara a 2015, convirtiéndose en un ejemplo para la región.

“Lo que se está logrando en Venezuela a nivel de alimentación es un ejemplo que debe ser tomado en cuenta en la región”, dijo Missair en un acto a propósito del Día Mundial de la Soberanía Alimentaria.

“Estamos en la dirección correcta y a una gran velocidad para alcanzar” esta meta, añadió el responsable de la Organización de Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación (FAO).

Según los datos suministrados este mismo sábado por el vicepresidente de Venezuela, Elías Jaua, a través de los programas sociales del gobierno, como el programa de alimentación escolar, atención de adultos mayores, personas en situación de calle y casas de alimentación, se da de comer diariamente a cerca de cinco millones de venezolanos.

“El Estado venezolano, a través de sus distintas redes, establece una política de gratuidad al derecho a la alimentación, convirtiendo el derecho a la alimentación en un derecho humano y no en una mercancía”, remarcó el representante del Ejecutivo durante un acto en el marco del Día Mundial de la Soberanía Alimentaria.

Jaua destacó que el desarrollo de redes de distribución de alimentos a precios justos en todo el país, a través de la Productora y Distribuidora de Alimentos (Pdval), la Corporación Venezolana de Alimentación y la red de Abastos Bicentenario, “ha dado como resultado que Venezuela en los últimos 10 años haya incrementado su disponibilidad energética en la dieta del venezolano”.

Manifestó además que el Gobierno Bolivariano, mediante la política de subsidio de la red de Mercal, atiende a 14 millones de habitantes en todo el país, a quienes se les garantiza el acceso a productos de calidad y a bajos costos.

“Todas estas redes estás destinadas a lograr que la población pueda satisfacer con sus ingresos el derecho a la alimentación que está consagrado en la Constitución venezolana y que además es un derecho humano fundamental” afirmó Jaua.

El vicepresidente recordó que para 1998, el venezolano consumía per cápita dos mil 202 calorías cifra que se incrementó a dos mil 790 para el año 2009.

“Hubo una variación del 31,2 por ciento respecto al último año de los gobiernos de la IV República. Los venezolanos íbamos directo a una crisis de carácter nutricional”, afirmó.

Según cifras del Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), Venezuela ha reducido la tasa de pobreza extrema en Venezuela de 17,1 por ciento en 1998 a 7,9 por ciento en 2008, y el déficit nutricional en niños y niñas menores de cinco años, ha tenido una reducción de 7,7 por ciento a 3,7 por ciento.

La FAO celebra el sábado el Día Mundial de la Alimentación con un llamado a la comunidad internacional para que se comprometa a erradicar el hambre para 2015, un objetivo difícil de alcanzar pese a que este año se redujo el número de desnutridos en el planeta.

TELESUR

FAO coloca a Venezuela entre los 10 países mejor nutridos del mundo (Inglés)

Autor: / 16-11-2010Pais: VenezuelaLink: http://www.avn.info.ve/node/28541

Fuente: Agencia Venezolana de Noticias  Thanks to the implementation of correct agrifood policies and diverse social programs, the Bolivarian Government has placed Venezuela among the first 10 better nourished countries in the world.According to a press bulletin from Venezuela"s Foreign Ministry, the executive director of the National Nutrition Institute (INN) Marilyn Di Luca informed that the achievements reached by the Government of President Hugo Chavez in food matters, established in the Undernutrition Prevalence Index (UPI), have been recognized in the last report of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

By 1998, Venezuela had a 21% of undernutrition index, while said figure is currently at 8%, which is the lowest rate in country"s history.

In addition, the energetic availability for human consumption, measured by the amount of food available for citizens in food stores, records an average above 110% since 2005. Nowadays, Venezuela has a rate of 120% regarding energetic availability – the highest value registered in the past 18 years.

The report of the UPI also makes emphasis in the reduction of the global malnutrition rate in children under 5 years of age to 4.2%. Said figure is the lowest for Venezuela in the past 17 years and places the country in the low category, according to the ranking made by the World Health Organization (WHO).

"Venezuelan children are now growing more and better thanks to a good nutrition, which is sustained in the records from 1990 to 1998, when the growth percentage increased 0.8%," Di Lucca.

The official highlighted that in 2009 the growth percentage was doubled to 1.8%. Said figure was supported by the FAO representative to Venezuela Alfredo Missair, who congratulated the country for efforts done to eradicate in malnutrition.

Socialist policy

Among the commitments within the Development Millennium Goals agreed by the United Nations member countries to reach by 2015, it is included the reduction to a half the number of hungry people in the world.

Since 1999, Venezuela has been implementing a socialist policy through a set of laws aimed at eradicating hunger among its population and guarantee the agroproductive development in the country.

For such reason, in 2008 a series of laws on food matters came into force, such as: the Agrifood Security and Sovereignty Law; Integral Agricultural Health Law; Law on Credits for the Agricultural Sector; Law for the Venezuelan Agricultural Bank; in addition to Government"s fight against large-estates.

Likewise, millions of Venezuelans eat everyday for free thanks to the school food programs; adults care programs; homeless people care programs; and Food Centers. The Venezuelan working class is also benefited thanks to the governmental food distribution network.

Said efforts have been even recognized by the President of the 64 term of the United Nations General Assembly Ali Abdessalam Treki, during his visit to Caracas on June. "Venezuela has become into a paradigm model for other countries to reach Millennium Goals," Treki said at that opportunity. 

Venezuela’s Agrarian Revolution meeting UN goals on food October 26, 2010 by http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/venezuela%E2%80%99s-agrarian-revolution-meeting-un-goals-on-food/ 

Peanuts intercropped with cassava 

By various sources

The UN Millennium Development Goal of halving the numbers who are undernourished has been met in Venezuela, five years ahead of schedule. Venezuela’s representative in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Alfredo Missair, spoke on October 18 about Venezuela’s achievements in food access, also noting that half its population of 28 million now has access to fair priced food.

 Missair blames high food prices on financial speculation in stock markets, government subsidies in the global North, and unsustainable agricultural policies promoted for decades around the world which badly affected productivity and the environment.

Above from Venezuelan FAO Representative: Malnutrition Reduced by Half to 3.7%.

President Hugo Chavez’s land reforms have reduced hunger and poverty, allowing field hands to own the land they work. Chavez called for the acceleration of nationalizing agricultural assets across the country in coming months, including land and property owned by Venezuelan farming technology company Agroislena and British meat products company Vestey.

Since 1999, when Chavez took office, the government has taken over some 2.5 million hectares (6.2 million acres) of land, in line with his Agrarian Revolution.

Above from Chavez orders land takeover of British food giant

While in the United States and Europe the only recent government interventions in the economy are “the nationalization of capitalist bankruptcy” (in reference to government bailouts after financial capital’s recent collapse), in Venezuela the state is playing an increasingly active role in the restructuring of the economy for the benefit of the Venezuelan people. And unlike the U.S. and Europe, Venezuela has no intention of returning these firms back to private interests – neither in the short or long term.

Also this month the government announced the takeover of two more firms: Fertinitro and Venoco. The former is a producer of agricultural fertilizers, while the latter a producer of lubricants and other petroleum-derived inputs that can be used for agricultural mechanization. Chavez promised 50% reductions in the price of agrochemical inputs such as glyphosate, the basis of Monsanto’s infamous RoundUp herbicide, arguing smallholder farmers would finally find fair prices for said inputs.

Campesino leader Orlando Zambrano, was not pleased with the decision to continue using such chemicals. “AgroPatria should combat the negative effects of agrotoxins in the environment and on human health. This new company should make agroecology its banner so as to overcome capitalism in agriculture… We, campesino leaders, believe that as these two models confront one another, the capitalist and the socialist models, this decision [to nationalize] is a necessity for the advance and consolidation of food sovereignty.”

Other leaders agreed. “The creation of AgroPatria should not just be a change in owners, it should be the beginning of a great national agrarian mobilization to achieve the third step in food sovereignty – the conversion of the model, starting with what we’ve got and advancing firmly towards a socialist, agroecological model.”

Research shows that small farms are much more productive than large farms if total output is considered rather than yield from a single crop. Productivity in terms of harvestable products per unit area of polycultures developed by smallholders is higher than under a single crop with the same level of management. Yield advantages can range from 20 percent to 60 percent, because polycultures reduce losses due to weeds (by occupying space that weeds might otherwise occupy), insects, and diseases (because of the presence of multiple species), and make more efficient use of the available resources of water, light, and nutrients.

Properly managed farms have no need for toxic chemicals. If the contradictory statements coming from government representatives (celebrating chemical inputs while calling for environmental conservation) are to be rectified, it will take the efforts of agroecology and food sovereignty advocates on the ground.

From Agribusiness to Agroecology? An Analysis of Venezuela’s Nationalization of AgroIsleña

http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/venezuela%E2%80%99s-agrarian-revolution-meeting-un-goals-on-food/