The lack of gasoline keeps farm producers in the southern area of Lake Maracaibo in high alert. They say that due to the restriction in the sales of fuel, 30% of the production of meat, milk, and other products in the town of Colon del Sur del Lago get losing.
The Nicolas Maduro regime’s first measure to deal with the Coronavirus outbreak was the rationing of gasoline and diesel, a measure criticized by unions, farm producers, and health-care workers all over Venezuela.
According to the plan, only police and the military have access to gasoline. Others, including doctors and their patients, have to wait in day-long lines, and most of the time, they do not get any fuel.
The president of the Association of Farmers from the municipality of Colon (Aganaco in Spanish) Daniel Ariza denounced that 550 producers are affected due to the difficulties to get gasoline.
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Despite the heavy rationing, Ariza said they have received some gasoline, but they need more to move the crops from the field and bring them to the market.
“We have been taken care of compared with the rest of the municipalities in the state, but we need daily re-fuel. When the producer’s visits to the farms decrease, this brings consequences to productivity, because it is the producer who supervises, looks for merchandise and food for the tasks of the field.”
Blanca Meza, a banana producer from the La Fortuna sector, told El Pitazo that she been unable to get their product to market for the past two weeks. This means the loss of the crops.
Concerned palm growers
Members of the Association of Palm Growers in the state of Zulia (Azupalma) also report that between 25 and 30% of the corozo, a fruit obtained from oil palms, withers in the production units due to lack of mobilization. Palm oil has several industrial applications and can even be used to manufacture bio-diesel.
Eva Zoraida Villamizar, president of Azupalma, said that in coordination with the mayor’s offices and the military forces they have gotten access to diesel for their fleet of trucks, but she stressed that gasoline is restricted.
