[High up in Venezuela’s Andes, the township of Mucuchies is home to a campesino-led initiative striving for sustainable agricultural production. Integral Producers of the Highlands [PROINPA, for the organization’s Spanish-language name] is widely recognized not only for its top-notch seed potatoes but also for its scientific initiatives such as a state-of-the-art seed lab, a germplasm bank, and, most recently, an aeroponic seed production facility.
One of the secrets to PROINPA’s success is its democratic organization and emphasis on education. Founded 24 years ago, the organization’s structure has an assembly of associated producers as its topmost level of decision-making. That is, at PROINPA, it is the producers themselves who are in charge. These associates are all hard-working campesinos but have also achieved high levels of formal education. Many have doctorates or masters, and all have gone through educational processes centered on the science and sustainability of food production.
PROINPA’s core mission of food sovereignty is of strategic importance to a country under siege. The organization pursues this goal by promoting agroecology, crop diversification, endogenous scientific development, and a new social organization of production.]
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Part I: Campesinos as Scientists: PROINPA Combats Seed Dependency
PROINPA’s Origins and Its Life-Centered Mission
[The organization’s history as told by its founders and associates.]
Caroly Higuera (Caroly Higuera is an agricultural engineer with a PhD in Human Development and a PROINPA founder): A quarter century ago, in 1999, twenty-five small and mid-size producers in Mérida’s highlands got together with one goal: improving agricultural processes. All this was to be done through science and a philosophy of sustainable development. That’s how PROINPA was born.
Our mission has remained the same since those early days, but we have grown considerably. Now we have CEBISA [a biotechnological center] with its state-of-the-art in vitro seed lab, a germplasm bank [a collection of live plant matter for the preservation of biological diversity and food security], and four greenhouses, one of them for aeroponic seed potato production. We also have a silo for potato storage and several farms have become research sites.
While the epicenter of the organization continues to be Mucuchies, we are now working in 18 states to promote the diversification of campesino production, sustainability, and seed sovereignty.
Gerardo (Lalo) Rivas Gil (Gerardo (Lalo) Rivas Gil is a potato producer and a PROINPA associate. He is currently the organization’s General Coordinator and a spokesperson for El Paso de Bolívar 1813 Commune): PROINPA brings together the work and dreams of many people, but Rafael Romero is the key figure in our organization. Years ago, many of us were brought together by the Belgian Andes Tropicales NGO, which promoted sustainability. When that project came to an end, Rafael called us and said: “We must organize and keep working together.” That’s exactly what happened.
I’m a campesino from a long line of potato growers, but I’m also a scientist of sorts. How did that happen? PROINPA is committed to the education of producers like me. I can safely say that PROINPA represented a turning point in my life. Our collective practices, monthly assemblies, workshops, conversations and debates — all that has changed the way I understand food production in a world that commodifies everything.
At PROINPA we are campesinos and scientists, and we are teachers too. Those three roles come together in the organization. That’s what makes it such an extraordinary project. Many have doubted the capacity of a handful of campesinos to do such things. They ask: Can these rough-around-the-edges producers operate a top-notch lab? Can they really improve the quality of seeds? Will they be able to do it on their own?
The answer to all these questions is yes. It hasn’t been easy, we’ve had to study a lot, we’ve worked hard, and there has been a great deal of sacrifice in all of it… Yet, it’s been worth it. Today PROINPA is a flagship project in the country. Moreover, in these times of imperialist blockade, our work caring for and improving seeds is all the more important.
Caroly Higuera: PROINPA is a reflection of us, the people who built it. Together with its virtues and flaws, the association has grown. It now produces yearly an average of 500 thousand pre-basic* seed potatoes in 20 varieties: some for consumption, some for agroindustry, and some for processing to extract starch.
We do this in our state-of-the-art CEBISA facilities, while we promote non-conventional practices and a sustainable scheme that guarantees that our children and grandchildren will be able to go on producing by combining hard science with a philosophy centered on life.
Rafael Romero (Rafael Romero is an engineer and PROINPA associate and founder, instrumental in creating and maintaining the organization): Technically you can produce without agrochemicals, without fertilizers, and even without soil, but you can’t produce without seeds. As a country, we are very vulnerable when it comes to seed production. In fact, most of the seeds come from abroad even now. This problem has intensified with the blockade. That’s precisely why PROINPA focuses on producing seeds, although that is not our only line of work.
Gerardo (Lalo) Rivas Gil: Latin America, particularly the Andes range which we are now standing in, is the home of the potato. However, we got to a point where in Venezuela 99% of the seed potatoes were imported! For some four decades, Venezuela would buy most of its seed potatoes not only from Germany and Canada, but also from France and Holland. In fact, there were years when Venezuela paid as much as 400 million dollars to purchase seeds!
On top of that, the varieties we got were Royalty and Granola, which have their virtues, but are not always the most appropriate for our conditions.
When we conceived of PROINPA, we were lucky enough to get Chávez’s attention. He understood the strategic value of seeds, and we got government funding, which helped us a great deal. That’s when we began to study and develop science. But it wasn’t easy in those early days. Many said: “you are a bunch of campesinos, you can’t do this!” or “You can’t run these processes because you don’t have a PhD or aren’t linked to established labs.” Of course, “established labs” is a euphemism for corporate agribusiness.
By 2005, we were producing seed potatoes. And we’ve kept at it year after year, rain or shine. We’ve done so sometimes with significant support from public institutions, and sometimes with very little, but always with the interests of big business against us. The blockade, the pandemic, the capitalist enemies — none of that brought us to a halt, because we’re really stubborn!
Our commitment to developing (and caring for) good, sturdy, and healthy seed potatoes to feed the people of Venezuela has only grown over the years. We have a long way to go and I’m sure we will face many more hurdles, but we learn from every difficulty we face.
Rafael Romero: We are in Venezuela’s tropical Andes region. The ground and biological cycle here have their own characteristics. Conventional agriculture, which operates with a single model and responds to the interests of a few, does not necessarily work for us. In our region, one of the problems that we have faced over the years is that we get contaminated seeds from abroad. In other words, a seed that performs one way in Canada won’t necessarily perform the same way here because it can arrive contaminated.
When a seed potato comes with a virus, that doesn’t only mean that its performance will be sub-optimal, but it will also pollute the ground and generate dependency on chemical inputs. That’s why the scientific investigation that we are promoting here, from our CEBISA labs, is so important… I would dare to say that this is even more relevant now that the US has built a wall around our country!
Venezuela could be self-reliant when it comes to potato production: there is plenty of optimal land and the campesinos are eager to produce. In fact, with some support and investment in technology, we could quickly become exporters. According to a study carried out by the Economic Potato Circuit, an initiative promoted by the Ministry of Communes, Venezuela has at least 50 thousand hectares suitable for growing potatoes, and PROINPA is already promoting potato farming in many states through an alliance with the Science and Technology Ministry.
Caroly Higuera: PROINPA is known for its innovations in the production of seed potato, but we do a lot more than that. At CEBISA we produce seeds for garlic, stevia, coffee, and other vegetables. PROINPA produces bio-inputs, promotes the conservation of water sources and the land with agroecological practices, and works on the genetic improvement of bovine and ovine cattle. Finally, we promote technical and scientific education among our associates and other producers, and we work on the social organization of production.
Right now, while improving seed potatoes in our lab and producing hundreds of thousands of seeds every year, we are additionally doing field research with carrot and cabbage seeds, among others. Additionally,: we’re working to develop a proposal for biological corridors in the Chama River Basin [the river that flows by Mucuchies] to reduce the impact of climate change. This project, like many others, is a collaboration with public institutions. In this case, we have access to satellite photos of the basin, which allows us to project future uses.
We also work with agroecology students from the Simón Rodríguez University to understand the effects of fertilizers on women’s health in the municipality. In fact, we have a number of research initiatives underway in collaboration with academic and research institutions.
Marisol Montilla (Marisol Montilla is part of PROINPA and works as Field Technician for the Optimization of Processes): PROINPA is about perseverance and dedication, about loving the land that we stand on, and about looking for scientific solutions to the problems that rural producers face in these highlands.
The educational system, the media, and popular belief coalesce in a single discourse: seed production is something that can only be done by a few top scientists; you practically have to be a NASA researcher to succeed! However, our experience shows that the best way to improve and produce seeds is when social actors, researchers, campesinos, and institutions all come together. Without direct campesino participation, private interests take over.
Corporate interests behind conventional agriculture prescribe a method that doesn’t consider human realities or the ecosystem. In fact, as we say here at PROINPA, those who have control of the seed have the power. Why? Because they control the food cycle. We don’t want foreign corporations to control our food cycle. We are about empowering campesinos with the science and the seeds that they need so that our country can be sovereign.
Fortunately, in Venezuela, we have the human, technical and scientific capacities to develop a model that suits our conditions. We also have the land, the water, and plenty of sunlight.
PROINPA’S Principles
Rafael Romero: PROINPA promotes an integral approach to agriculture based on three principles. Our first principle is the diversification of campesino production units. We work to break with monoproduction, which is the conventional model. Monoproduction is a model that benefits big agribusiness and doesn’t meet the needs of the producer or the environment.
Diversifying production is key to promoting sustainable agriculture in both environmental and economic terms. Our aim is that every farm have at least five different crops and animal rearing activities combined. We also work to promote the recycling of nutrients to fertilize the ground. In short, we recreate the basic elements of traditional agriculture.
Our second principle is incorporating science and technology into the production process, which ensures that traditional agriculture methods offer good and sustainable yields.
Finally, our third principle is the social organization of production. By this we mean that producers organize democratically and cooperate to promote agroecology, displace the use and abuse of agro-chemicals, protect water sources and the ground, and preserve our cultural heritage.
But these three principles could be summed up into one larger mission: to preserve small and mid-sized farming and campesino life in the long term.
Producers
Vladimir Balza (Vladimir Balza is a campesino, a PROINPA associate, and the president of the Misintá Irrigation Committee): PROINPA is all about sovereignty. Top-notch pre-basic seed potatoes are produced at the CEBISA laboratories and greenhouses. As an associate producer, I get these seed potatoes at a reduced price. Using the pre-basic seeds, I multiply them to get a certified seed potato crop. A percentage of that crop goes back to PROINPA to scale up sovereign seed distribution. I then place some of the certified seeds in the market while another batch goes to production for consumption.
PROINPA is directly related to food sovereignty for two reasons. First, it breaks with the need to import seed potatoes. Second, imported seeds often come with diseases that hurt the land and force us into purchasing chemical inputs. Through PROINPA, we are breaking with that kind of dependency, although that doesn’t happen overnight.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that we are free from problems. The impact of the crisis and the blockade has been enormous and, more recently, another blight descended upon us: Colombian potatoes are flooding the market. That lowers the price of our main crop and makes it difficult for us to survive.
Julio Orlando Mora Parra (Julio Orlando Mora Parra is president of ASOCRAMR, an association of irrigation committees, and a potato producer): I’m not a direct PROINPA associate, but as a potato producer, I receive 2000 seed potatoes from PROINPA every year via our irrigation committee Future installments of this investigation will focus on the role and character of irrigation committees.* The agreement goes as follows: I multiply the seeds. Once the cycle closes I keep 70% of the production, while the remaining 30% goes to PROINPA so that they can redistribute to another irrigation committee.
Vladimir Balza: Not only does PROINPA deliver high-quality seed potatoes, but CEBISA’s lab also produces other seeds that campesinos like me have access to. There are workshops on alternative agriculture and an ongoing program to promote farm diversification as well.
José Gregorio Gil Pérez (José Gregorio Gil Pérez is a campesino and a PROINPA associate): I joined PROINPA more than ten years ago when seed imports from Canada, Holland, and Germany began to dwindle. In the beginning, I was a bit leery of PROINPA’s seed potatoes, because we’d been told that we aren’t capable of producing good seeds in Venezuela, that they have to come from foreign enterprises, and so on. However, our seeds have very good genetics.
Over the years, I have learned a lot about the process of multiplying the seed, and I feel that I’m not only producing for myself and my family; I’m also contributing to my country.
PROINPA’S Early Days
César Mesa (César Mesa is a potato producer and a PROINPA founder): In the late 90s, the Belgian NGO Andes Tropicales had a project here in the highlands to improve animal rearing and promote organic food production. They also had other lines of work including ecotourism. Andes Tropicales was very important for many of us. When it came to an end, Rafael Romero became the engine behind what we now know as PROINPA.
In its early days, PROINPA brought together 25 producers, and we eventually became an association. Of course, when you begin something, it doesn’t satisfy your desires right away. However, since its beginnings, PROINPA became a model for participation: every associated producer has a say and a vote. In other words, decisions are not taken by a single person. That is good, and that is what has kept the organization going over the years.
Rafael Romero: PROINPA was born in 1999. However, 2002 was an important year for us. That is when we applied for support from the fledgling Science and Technology Ministry [MINCyT]. They had an initiative that was called “Clusters” that eventually came to be known as “Socialist Networks of Productive Innovation” [Redes Socialistas de Innovación Productiva].
When the Clusters got going, there were 643 projects nationwide, but ours was the only one working with seeds. The Cluster initiative was really great, although only about 30% of those projects survived over time. Perhaps that’s not surprising, since we are talking about scientific innovation.
The operational principle used in the Clusters project was that each initiative would work in cooperation with (and get support from) local and national institutions in the field. Our “cluster” included Mérida’s Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology [FUNDACITE], the National Institute of Agricultural Investigation [INIA], the local Mucuchies government, the Los Andes University Environmental Sciences Institute, the Training and Innovation Foundation for the Support of the Agrarian Revolution [CIARA], and the Cuba-Venezuela Agreement.
In 2003 Chávez himself handed a check over to us to buy a greenhouse and equipment to sterilize the ground [needed for seed-production]. Unfortunately, we were not able to get the project going until 2005 because the INIA didn’t have the seedlings that we needed to get the project moving. The INIA was likewise expected to facilitate lab testing and offer technical support, but they were frankly remiss in this process.
In the end, by 2005, we were able to begin producing seeds and, with support from several of the institutions that I mentioned before, seed production took off with full force.
The Organization
Gerardo (Lalo) Rivas Gil: Perhaps more important than the production of seeds is the organizational model that PROINPA promotes. Here we take all important decisions collectively, in an assembly that is held on the 21st of every month, be it Tuesday or Sunday. We are a horizontal organization. Formally, at the top of the structure is the Technical Coordinator. That’s my role at the moment, but I can’t make any important decisions on my own, so the role is mostly symbolic.
Needless to say, this structure has nothing to do with capitalist organization, and I believe it could be the organizational model for the future socialist society that we dream of.
Rafael Romero: PROINPA is run by and for the producers. I’m one of 85 associates, and my vote counts the same as anybody else’s. Of the 85 associated producers, 10 of us work at the CEBISA labs. Furthermore, every employee has the same rights as an associate producer. There are no bosses at PROINPA.
However, our internal structure doesn’t close us in on ourselves: we often get support and technical assistance from many institutions and sister organizations. Assistance and advice are always welcome, but at the end of the day, it is the associated producers who decide PROINPA’s course of action.
This democratic model goes back to 1999, when the PROINPA came into existence. In legal terms, we wanted the organization to be a cooperative but the laws of the time were very restrictive, so we finally established ourselves as an association. However, we operate in ways very different from a conventional association, so our legal structure doesn’t exactly match our assembly-based modus operandi.
Now, the fact that PROINPA is a democratic organization doesn’t mean that everyone does the same thing at the same time. We have six technical branches – administration, commercialization, environment, auditing, and so on – and each PROINPA member belongs to one of them. In turn, each branch has a spokesperson, and they are the ones who bring proposals to the assembly, which is our executive body.
I should highlight, however, that our organization is agile. A body that is called “General Coordination” has leverage to make some decisions on the spot when needed. This includes purchasing inputs in an emergency, enabling conversations that may lead to agreements with institutions or organizations, and approving certain banking transactions. All of these processes will be reviewed in our monthly assembly, so nothing happens behind closed doors!
Richard Rivas (Richard Rivas is a PROINPA associate producer and founder): We meet on the 21st of every month, and that’s one of the most wonderful things about PROINPA. The day begins early, peeling potatoes for a big sancocho [stew]. We then gather in the assembly and plan, confer, and debate.
We also get a detailed monthly report from different PROINPA branches. When that is done, we move on to our hearty sancocho, we update each other on our families’ health and the whereabouts of our children, and we share our notes on production.
Footnotes
* Pre-basic seeds represent the first stage in seed production. They are also called breeder seeds, and are produced under the highest level of genetic control to ensure seeds that are genetically pure, accurately represent the variety, and are disease-free. Basic seeds, in turn, are produced from pre-basic seeds, maintaining their genetic purity. They are later used as the source for registered and then certified seeds, which are employed in commercial crop production.
PROINPA usually offers pre-basic seeds to producers with the expectation that they will “multiply” them to produce basic, then registered, and eventually certified seeds. This increases the quantity of seeds geometrically.
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Part II: Open Science: PROINPA Breaks with Seed Dependency
[In Part I of this series, we learned about the history of PROINPA. In Part II, we focus on science and seed production.]
Seeds
[Hugo Chávez talked a great deal about seeds, both figuratively and literally. For him, the commune was a seed of socialism. More literally, however, socialism implied sovereignty with regard to both seeds and food production. In this section, PROINPA associates explain their efforts to produce seeds and thereby contribute to food sovereignty in Venezuela.]
Caroly Higuera: For PROINPA, the care and development of seeds is strategic because we want the highlands to prosper based on a sustainable model of agriculture. This also means that having control of seed supply is really important. Our efforts in seed production date back to 2003, but it was in 2005 that the project truly gained momentum and got off the ground.
Potatoes
Gerardo (Lalo) Rivas Gil: Potatoes, along with rice, sugar, meat, and dairy products, are among the main foodstuffs in the world. In Venezuela, we have sovereignty in the potato production sector, though not in seed production. Although PROINPA has significantly contributed to Venezuela’s potato sovereignty, there’s still a lot of work to be done.
As [20th-century intellectual] Uslar Pietri wisely pointed out, “We need to sow petroleum.” More investment is essential to fully consolidate our sovereignty in terms of seed potato production.
Rafael Romero: The potato comes from here, from the Andes, where there were hundreds of varieties before the colonization. Some say that you could create a rainbow with the colors of the different varieties here. However, the rigor of capitalist production led to the loss of many varieties. In fact, at one point, we got close to losing control of seed potatoes in Venezuela and around the continent. Large corporations developed commercial varieties that displaced the endogenous ones, and many countries in the region became almost 100% dependent on seed potato imports from Canada and other countries.
That’s why, in addition to producing commercial seed potatoes, we are also working to recover and care for native potato [papa nativa] varieties. Conventional potatoes have a cycle of 90 to 120 days, whereas the endogenous ones have a cycle of 160 to 180 days – that’s why they get pushed out of the market. Nonetheless, native varieties taste better and are rich in beta-carotene and vitamins A and C.
We pursued the recovery of the native potato with Liccia Romero, a professor at Los Andes University, and named the varieties after our grandmothers: Nicolasa, Maximina, Sabina, and others.
But at PROINPA, while caring for native potato varieties and reproducing some of the standard market seed potatoes, we also develop our own varieties. The first one we developed is called “Angostureña.” We did the selection work for over ten years until we were satisfied with a variety that would work well in our highland conditions. Our second variety, which is still in the research and development stage, is called “Misedeña.” We have been working on it for seven years, and we hope that we will be able to take it to the National Seed Commission for approval next year.
Our varieties are developed to be resilient to disease, and their characteristics allow them to adapt well to the soil here.
Any Mora Castillo (Any Mora Castillo is a CEBISA lab worker and a PROINPA associate): There are two kinds of seeds, agamic and sexual. The Biotechnological Center for Training in the Production of Agamic Seeds [CEBISA for its Spanish initials] works on the development and preservation of agamic seeds. In the agamic process, we take a part of the plant and multiply it in a growth medium that provides macro and micronutrients. The rhizome then goes to a growth chamber where it’s kept for one to two months, and then we take them to the greenhouse where we actually produce the seeds for our producers and for the market.
Here, in CEBISA, we have a stock of 82 in-vitro potato variety seedlings, which allows producers to choose seed potatoes according to the type of soil where they work, its altitude, etc. The most requested varieties are Unique, Beautiful María, Granola, but also Yungai and Diacol Capiro.
On a yearly basis, we produce some 250 thousand in-vitro seedlings at CEBISA.
Rafael Romero: Venezuela has very strict rules and regulations. This, in principle, is good, but there is one major issue: regulations are far more liberal when it comes to seed potato imports, which puts seed potato producers in Venezuela at a disadvantage. And there are other bottlenecks.
The Venezuelan institution that regulates the importation of seeds follows international protocols and binational agreements. What is the problem with this? There are many microorganisms that are not a problem, for example, for potato production in Canada. However, when you bring those seeds to the tropical Andes, the microorganisms find optimal conditions, hurting both the land and the crop.
But what exactly are we talking about when we mention diseases and the varying standards that are applied? Venezuela frequently imports diseased seed potatoes, while ours – because of the regulations – are almost disease-free. To be specific, Venezuelan seeds may carry up to 1.5% infection, while the Canadian seeds that we get can have a staggering 33% infection rate. Factor in a climate here that is friendly to virus growth and you get the picture.
In CEBISA’s seed potato line, we have a benchmark: within our premises, every stock must yield 5 tubers, and each tuber must produce five 200-gram seed potatoes, totaling a kilo. When scaled up, this comes to 100 kilos of seed potatoes which will yield a ton of potatoes by the end of the cycle. Of course, the full cycle that goes from the first seed potato to a ton of potatoes takes years.
For this cycle to truly materialize, we work based on the 3S rule: healthy seeds [semilla sana], healthy soil [suelos sanos], and dedicated producers [productores serios].
Seed Law
Rafael Romero: The seeds that we now produce are social property, and this idea goes hand in hand with the 2015 Seed Law.
I should point out that there is something really special about this law: it was written from the grassroots by producers and campesinos like us. In doing so, we broke with the practice of doing merely symbolic consultation, which is standard fare when it comes to legislative bills. When the debate opened up, the political spectrum varied from very radical positions to pro-Monsanto ones, but the end result was a coherent and advanced text that is useful both for producers and for our country’s sovereignty.
Our 1999 constitution explicitly prohibits intellectual property rights over living beings. However, the earlier 2002 Seed Law was rife with contradictions and problems and open to GMOs.
The 2015 Seed Law protects production because it states that seeds must be registered as social property, and we are proud to say that Angostureña, the seed potato developed by PROINPA, was the first seed registered under the new law. But that was just the beginning, there are many more to come!
The 2014 law has other virtues. For one, it is the first law in the world to recognize the coexistence of the formal seed production system and alternative ones, i.e. campesino, Indigenous, and Afro-descendent practices of seed production and preservation. In other words, it recognizes their practices, and it doesn’t consider them retrograde or anachronistic. The law also protects both the formal and informal worlds of seed production. That’s how new seed protection centers or banks, quality committees, and silos began for the alternative sphere began to be promoted.
The law also bans the production of transgenic seeds, although some people question this. In fact, in 2019, transgenic corn seeds were imported and presented as a kind of panacea, but the yields didn’t live up to those promises.
For us, the idea that seeds are a public good and that, as the Seed Law states, their property should be social is right on target. This doesn’t imply that the seeds shouldn’t be registered. Angostureña, our variety, is registered but in the public domain. This is good because we won’t face a situation similar to what occurred with Bolivians and the quinoa seed. When Evo Morales began to promote it, it became known that the US had a patent for it already. On finding this out, he said: “This is not right, we have been sowing it for 10 thousand years!” What was the response from the patent-holders? They said: “That may be true, but we were the ones to patent it.” That’s why our registration process – which is not to be confused with a patent – is important.
Of course, not everything works perfectly. There are enemies of the Seed Law who campaign against what they unfairly call “pirate seeds.” They argue that the seeds that don’t come through the conventional corporate channels are the reason why the country is now facing a potato production crisis. That’s not true. First, there are external economic conditions hurt all national production in the campo and elsewhere. Second, the main problem when it comes to the Seed Law is that it’s not fully implemented. For us, the primary issue with the law lies not in its wording but in its incomplete execution.
The law is essentially about Venezuela’s much-needed transition away from seed dependency. Applying the law would ensure that our country produces its own seeds in a transgenic-free context. The Seed Law is our law, and by that I mean that it is a very important tool for people producing food for popular consumption and for Venezuela’s sovereignty.
Agroecology and Diversification
[PROINPA promotes agroecological production in the Venezuelan highlands and all around the country. Without being purists, its associates rely mainly on practices based on sustainability.]
Agroecology
Rafael Romero: Conventional agriculture, with its heavy use of agrochemicals, is hegemonic in the country and around the world. That’s why promoting agroecology is part of PROINPA’s mission. We began with 25 associates but now we are 84. However, there are 2,000 producers working with us, and they also apply agroecological practices to varying degrees.
Furthermore, we are now reaching out to many small and mid-size producers nationwide through a collaborative project with the Corporation for Scientific and Technological Development [CODECYT, for its Spanish initials]. Through it, we are able to promote our seeds and agroecological practices in 18 states, and the plan goes on expanding.
César Mesa: Little by little we are transitioning away from the use of toxins. Instead, we apply steam-based disinfection in our greenhouses. We are thus able to eliminate or reduce harmful microorganisms, pests, and diseases. Once the ground is healthy, the need to use agrotoxins is highly reduced. Then, when we have to use fertilizers or pesticides, we use “green belt” products with low toxic content.
Vladimir Balza: I associated with PROINPA because I wanted to move away from conventional agriculture’s use of chemicals. For many of us, the shift to nonconventional, life-centered practices is a reality right now. It took practical and theoretical workshops, support from the organization, and a disposition to go against the current, but our experience shows that the transition is not only viable, but also economically sustainable and an improvement to the producer’s quality of life.
Carlos Julio Avendaño Torres (Carlos Julio Avendaño Torres is a PROINPA associate and a member of the association of irrigation committees ASOCRAMR): Agroecological practices go beyond merely eliminating harmful inputs. They include crop rotation, diversification, judicious water usage, and the reforestation of springs. Regarding the latter, we have a consolidated program dedicated to preserving local springs. Witnessing a once-depleted spring bubbling with vitality after we collectively care for it is truly a remarkable sight!
José Gregorio Gil Perez: I have been progressively reducing the use of agrotoxins. I replace them with humus, natural fertilizers including compost, and natural fungicides. These options are, in the end, cheaper, and they don’t saturate the ground with chemicals.
Some say that shifting to agroecological practices is dangerous but I would say that the danger lies in conventional practices. We all know this deep inside, but we have been led to turn a blind eye to it. In my many years of experience, when you use the PROINPA seeds and do away with agrotoxins, the production doesn’t go down. In fact, the tendency is to increase little by little.
PROINPA workshops have been important in promoting the transition, but Pueblo a Pueblo, a campesino organization working with us, is now helping us obtain alternative fertilizers at lower prices. We don’t even have to pay them upfront: at the end of the cycle, we sell the crop to Pueblo a Pueblo, and they discount the inputs that we got from them. This is a win-win situation: the campesino gets inputs, Pueblo a Pueblo gets healthy potatoes, and the ground is spared the devastation that comes with overuse of agrochemicals.
Caroly Higuera: While agroecology is in PROINPA’s DNA, there are two tendencies within the organization: one is more committed to conventional agriculture, whereas the other sees our highlands as a sanctuary and wants to end the use of agrotoxins once and for all. We have been able to strike a balance between the two: agroecological methods are key, but we understand that for production to be economically viable, some conventional practices may have to be kept, at least for now.
Diversification
Caroly Higuera: Diversification is part of agroecology, it is a key agroecological practice. Our model is that every campesino should have five different crops plus some livestock. This practice is closer to the agricultural practices of our grandparents, but we don’t implement it out of some romantic nostalgia; diversification has proven to be far more sustainable than monoculture – better for the land and for the producer.
Richard Rivas: It is common that a PROINPA producer grows potatoes, strawberries, and garlic while maintaining a small pig pen and a few sheep. On the side, the family may run a country inn. This is the best way to do things, because if a crop fails or the price drops in the market, the family has alternative ways of sustaining itself.
Caroly Higuera: One of our goals is that every producer should have two cows and two oxen. The cows produce milk, which we can turn into cheese in small production units, while the oxen are there to work the land. Additionally, the manure is a natural fertilizer: it’s a virtuous circle!
Science for the People
[PROINPA is known for its high-end biotech lab and is also committed to disseminating scientific information.]
Open Science
Caroly Higuera: We coined the term “open science” [ciencia abierta] in our early days to define the research and investigation methods we pursue. Open science ensures that our findings – which are not static but in permanent development – become available to small and mid-size producers and to sister organizations.
Alonso Trejo (Alonso Trejo is a PROINPA associate who is in charge of a carrot research project run out of his family farm): At PROINPA we wear multiple hats – we are campesinos, scientists, and political actors. Recently, in collaboration with Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement [MST], we did a pilot project with carrots to assess their adaptability to our soil and climate. If all goes well, we will add carrot seeds to our seed bank.
I’m growing the carrot plants in my family’s plot, which has become a research field. I track the plants’ growth and their processes of regeneration. The plot I’m working on currently is 220 square meters. We began with 16 grams of seeds which should yield 1,2 kg. That will be increased to half a hectare, but our objective is to scale up seed production so that we will produce enough seeds for 45 hectares.
In this test field, we are also trying to promote diversity. That includes the incorporation of plants that attract pollinating animals.
The carrot seed project is still in process, so we are mostly talking about future projections right now. We identify every plant and measure its development and the quantity of seeds it yields. That way we have field statistics to track performance.
We also took a sample of our carrot seeds to CEBISA to study the embryo inside each seed. The results were good.
We are very happy with this initiative because it expands PROINPA’s research into crop diversification in the highlands, and we are doing it hand-in-hand with the MST, an organization that gives us both technical and political guidance.
The Campesino-Scientist Alliance
Caroly Higuera: We firmly believe that safeguarding, nurturing, and advancing seeds, along with ensuring availability to producers, is key to the progress of highland communities. For that reason, we have collaborated since 2003 with the Ministry of Science and Technology in a groundbreaking initiative known as the “Campesino-Scientist Alliance.”
The Alliance owes a great deal to Hugo Chávez’s vision of a new society. Its raison d’être is well stated in its name. Essentially, the goal is to bring together the expertise of scientists with the invaluable knowledge held by farming communities. There is still a long way to go since scientific knowledge is often controlled by corporations or academics isolated from the world’s real problems. Even so, the Alliance has been really important for organizations such as PROINPA.
Rafael Romero: The Ministry of Science and Technology oversees the Campesino-Scientist Alliance. They help us to establish links with scientific research centers. One such collaboration is with the Experimental Biology Institute of Venezuela’s Central University. When it comes to complex matters, their expertise proves invaluable. For instance, if we need to validate test results, they have the ability to test and contrast results. Similarly, when we have doubts regarding specific biotechnological processes, their guidance proves indispensable.
Most recently, a researcher from the Institute has been instrumental in assessing the susceptibility of various potatoes to different diseases. They are also assisting us in extracting DNA from a selection of potato varieties. This collaboration is vital, because we lack the necessary equipment and expertise. Additionally, they have helped identify specific bacteria affecting our crops and have provided guidance on how to eradicate them using basic equipment such as an incubator and a microplate reader.
Marisol Montilla: The Campesino-Scientist Alliance is really important for our country, since it overcomes the divide between ordinary people and scientists, who are often confined within their ivory towers. I really love the Alliance because it acknowledges that both campesinos – with their accumulated generational knowledge – and scientists – with their specialized knowledge and analytical skills – are important for society. The Alliance breaks paradigms and builds sovereignty.
CEBISA
Rafael Romero: The Biotechnological Center for Training in the Production of Agamic Seeds [CEBISA for its Spanish initials] got started in 2009 in a 40 square meter room in the evening high school in Mucuchies. The school was PROINPA’s educational headquarters at the time. Later, in 2014-15, we moved CEBISA to the town of Misintá, higher up in the mountain but not far from Mucuchies.
CEBISA maintains a germplasm bank consisting of seedlings grown in our in vitro laboratory and operates three on-site greenhouses. Recently we’ve added a hydroponic greenhouse where plants grow on a white tarp while the root systems – integral to the propagation of seed potatoes – are suspended in a dark environment.
Our CEBISA facilities in Misintá were made possible through a collaborative effort with CODECYT, a governmental institution dedicated to promoting the expansion of innovative and productive projects. CEBISA was the first project funded by CODECYT.
In addition to our ongoing research and the continuous production of agamic seeds for the highlands, CEBISA allowed us to increase our presence nationally. That’s in part because, in addition to our three greenhouses, the lab, and the germplasm bank, we now work with a network of nine greenhouses run by associated producers. Our organizational principles, our “open science” perspective, and our work in CEBISA are the reasons why we are now able to work with producers in 18 states, while maintaining a collaborative relationship with organizations such as Pueblo a Pueblo and CECOSESOLA. Working with these organizations has been a wonderful learning experience for us!
Any Mora Castillo: In our lab, we clone plants through agamic reproduction. This is how we produce not only potato seedlings, which is what we are best known for, but also stevia, yam, sweet potato, and garlic seedlings, among others.
The CEBISA laboratory is organized into three distinct zones. First, there’s an area where we house nutrient solutions and growth mediums that are meticulously crafted to cater to the unique requirements of each plant species. Then there is the development laboratory, which was designed according to Mercosur standards. Finally, there are the greenhouses where we produce the seeds that end up in the producer’s hands and their farms. On average, we produce 500 thousand pre-basic seed potato tubers per year in our greenhouses.
In our lab facilities, we have a deionizer that enables us to attain 100% pure water, which is essential for making precise salt mixtures. Additionally, we maintain a designated area for instrument sterilization and a laminar flow cabinet to prevent contamination. Since we have to cycle specimens out of the germplasm bank on a regular basis, our lab facilities are set up for us to produce at least four seedlings every month for each plant species that we preserve.
In our germplasm bank, we safeguard 82 potato varieties adapted to different soils, altitudes, and climates. Some are native, some are suitable for industrial processing, and others are for consumption. Additionally, we have 12 strawberry varieties, 8 yam clones, and 3 varieties of coffee. We also have sweet potato, garlic, and stevia specimens in our bank.
Rafael Romero: In the CEBISA laboratories, we emulate nature’s processes by carefully regulating factors such as light, nutrients, temperature, and humidity.
Our growth area is divided into two separate sections. There’s the germplasm bank, which serves as a genetic repository for the plant species that we preserve. Additionally, we maintain a separate controlled environment dedicated to scaling up, which is a step that precedes taking specimens – seed potato, for example – to the greenhouse.
Needless to say, what we produce in CEBISA – whether seeds or science – is not isolated from campesino production. After all, everyone who works in CEBISA is a campesino and our research and production is focused on producing the best genetic inputs for food production in our region.
CEBISA’S Hydroponic Project
Rafael Romero: In the hydroponic approach, plants thrive without soil as their air-born roots remain in direct contact with a nutrient-rich water solution. Instead of sourcing nutrients from the soil, hydroponic plants derive their essential elements from water, thus enabling precise and efficient growth control.
By comparison, our two other greenhouses employ a conventional system that requires us to process the substrate with steam to ensure optimal conditions for the plants. That leads to a significant increase in manual labor.
Our hydroponic project, initiated this April, is a source of great pride and promise. While it is still too early for a final assessment, the initial results have been highly encouraging, pointing toward a more cost-effective and labor-efficient approach. In fact, with the hydroponic model, we aspire to yield 1000 tubers per square meter, a notable increase compared to the 200 tubers per square meter produced in our conventional greenhouses.
Jesús Argenis Suescun Monsalves (Jesús Argenis Suescun Monsalves is a PROINPA associate and works at CEBISA’s aeroponic greenhouse): We’ve dreamed about growing seed potatoes hydroponically since we had a workshop on the method a few years ago. Now it became possible through support from the Ministry of Science and Technology. While the infrastructure requires more investment than a standard greenhouse, there are savings in terms of resources and labor, and everything points to increased yields.
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Part III: Education, Science, and Sovereignty: PROINPA vs. the US Blockade
[In Part III, we delve into PROINPA’s educational initiatives and the impact of US sanctions on production and life.]
Education
Caroly Higuera: PROINPA has been committed to education since its early days. Our educational work began in 1999 with the evening high school we ran in Mucuchies. The idea was to set up a learning space for producers who hadn’t had a chance to graduate. The focus was agroecology. More than 150 people came out with a technical degree in agroecology [técnico medio en agroecología]. Today, most of them are community leaders and many are PROINPA associates.
However, PROINPA’s educational work is not limited to the evening high school agroecological program [1999-2014]. For us, education and training is a constant. Many PROINPA associates went on to get university degrees, some of us have PhDs and others have masters degrees. This is an asset for the organization.
But that is not all. Although we know that academic formation is very important, we also consider the knowledge of campesinos – that knowledge that is transmitted from generation to generation – to be just as important. That’s why we consciously work to preserve campesino knowledge and practices. The world turns its back on producers in the campo. By contrast, we shine a spotlight on them.
Rafael Romero: Of those who finished their agroecology degrees at the evening high school, 47 went on to study at the Simón Rodríguez University [UNESR, for its initials in Spanish]. That university has a program that prepares students to be teachers while studying agroecology.
Caroly Higuera: PROINPA’s educational initiatives go beyond the evening high school. For one, we treat each monthly assembly as a learning space, because in it our associates take turns in giving reports on the work that we are doing, and everything is on the table for debate. We also organize formal workshops on specific themes like greenhouses, alternative fertilizers, seed care, and so on.
Vladimir Balza: PROINPA is a space to organize production in a new way, but it’s also a school. Some of our learning spaces are formal, other informal; some require sitting in a classroom, others going to a field and making earthworm humus. Many teaching and learning moments emerge while talking to fellow associate producers who have a great deal of experience.
There’s a saying here that goes as follows: You will never go to sleep without learning something. I don’t know if that is always true, but at PROINPA I always go to bed having learned at least two new things.
Any Mora Castillo: I graduated from the evening high school years ago. Coming from a poor family, I had to start working at an early age. The evening high school was my only option. I learned a great deal there! Next, I went on to study at UNESR where I graduated with a degree in education, with a focus on agroecology. I then went on to work in our CEBISA biotech lab, which began operating in a 40 square meter room in the evening high school premises.
Since then, we’ve moved our labs to our current location, where we continue learning every day. As some of my colleagues say: We produce science for producers!
Jesús Argenis Suescun Monsalves: I come from a campesino family. I was born with impaired vision. That made studying really difficult. I left school and began working in the campo at an early age.
Eventually, I met the PROINPA folks who were promoting the agroecology program in the evening high school. They encouraged me to continue studying, which I did. I graduated from high school and enrolled at UNESR. From there, I went on to become a teacher, and eventually, I came back full circle to PROINPA.
As it turns out, my eyesight didn’t keep me from studying. All I needed was a supportive community, which I got from PROINPA’s founders. Today, studying and solving problems is my passion. That’s why they call me “The Scientist.”
Néstor Monsalve Gil (Néstor Monsalve Gil is the caretaker of CEBISA’s greenhouses and a graduate of the evening high school in Mucuchies) : I first became acquainted with PROINPA through the work they were doing at the evening high school, where I studied. There I learned the basics of agroecology in a way that I could apply in my family’s farm.
Shortly after I graduated I became a PROINPA associate. This has kept me going and I have continued to acquire knowledge over the years: I have learned about seed care, seed multiplication, and, most importantly perhaps, about the need to overcome our dependency on foreign seeds. I’ve been a PROINPA associate for 16 years, and I’m still learning.
I think that PROINPA’s commitment to science and education is key to ensuring sovereign seed production. I know it’s possible for Venezuela to achieve this because PROINPA producers are already sovereign when it comes to the seed potatoes and the other foodstuffs we grow.
Impact of the blockade
Johny de Jesús Ramírez Lobo: It’s very easy for us to measure the impact of the blockade. Here, in the area, production dropped 45%. I think that the numbers speak for themselves.
One reason why the blockade was such a blow to production is because it triggered inflation. The cost of production has gone up since we have to purchase the fuel in the parallel market at very high prices and agricultural inputs are very expensive. All this raises the price of our production. That means that when our produce gets to the market, it is hard to sell because people don’t have much money.
We are now witnessing a small increase in demand, but it is incipient and precarious. However, the fact that we’re organized makes us more resilient.
José Aurelio Albarran Rangel (José Aurelio Albarrán Rangel is part of ASOCRAMR, an association of irrigation committees, and a garlic producer): In the Rangel Municipality [which includes Mucuchies], the land under tillage used to be about 13 thousand hectares. Our best estimate is that now the area that is actually productive is about 7 thousand hectares. That is not surprising because production costs have skyrocketed: a hectare of potatoes costs about $10,000 USD upfront, while a garlic hectare runs you some 17 thousand dollars. It is obvious that many campesinos cannot afford this, so they scale down their production.
In all this, the elephant in the room is the intermediaries, who take advantage of the situation. Since campesinos have no way to take their produce to market, the intermediaries have built a monopoly: they buy cheap from the producers and apply a huge markup on the other end. It’s a vicious circle that must be addressed immediately because it has terrible consequences both economically and socially.
I have two daughters. One of them migrated and the other is in high school, but she’s also thinking about leaving the country. Both are bright and the older one is a professional, so I’m witnessing the country’s brain drain at home.
Young men are migrating too because there is no work in the fields. It used to be that as a day laborer, youths could make a living wage. Now, with the reduction in production, farms are not looking for workers. It is sad to see kids leaving to go to Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, or Bolivia to become farmhands.
Caroly Higuera: We have one main problem as producers: obtaining diesel and gasoline. The shortages have been going on for years. Gasoline gets here about once a week to one of the gas stations, and the lines are many kilometers long. There is a black market for diesel and gasoline, but the prices are exorbitant and most of us can’t afford it.
Even though we often plow with oxen, how do we get the inputs to the farm or the production to the market without gas? Often we can’t. That’s why production has gone down significantly.
There is another reason for the nationwide fall in production: access to inputs. In the early days of the crisis, inputs became very scarce, but they eventually reappeared. However, the prices are very high now and they are dollarized. Nonetheless, we have an advantage here: at PROINPA we produce our own seeds and Colectivo Piedra Mubay [more about this initiative in part IV], a grassroots organization that provides agroecological supplies, can provide inputs, albeit at a smaller scale.
Rafael Romero: The blockade made us understand that we are extremely vulnerable because a very high percentage of the country’s agricultural production depends on imported seeds and inputs. This problem, however, is not exclusive to Venezuela. There are a handful of seed and input corporations led by Monsanto that control the majority of the market worldwide. Nonetheless, Venezuela’s dependency is more severe because of our 100-year oil curse.
Though state funds are now diminished, it is now time to invest some resources in biotechnological labs – or rather, in endogenous scientific research – so that our country will be able to really feed itself. This should be one of the main lessons learned from the catastrophe that the blockade has been for so many.
Irene Sánchez Méndez (Irene Sánchez Méndez is part of the PROINPA project and a spokesperson for the Paso de Bolívar 1813 Commune): The blockade was a blow to production. In fact, there was a time when production for the market practically dropped to zero.
The imperialist enemy knew how to hurt us, but little by little people found ways to survive. While some left the country – which is very painful for us – others turned to subsistence farming: they produce for their family and exchange some of what they grow with their neighbors. In doing so, we also saw the reactivation of solidarity networks. They [the imperialists] won’t be able to take our humanity away from us!
Edelmira del Carmen Rivas Díaz (Edelmira del Carmen Rivas Díaz is a spokesperson for the Paso de Bolívar 1813 Commune and a lifelong teacher): The impact of the blockade has been both economic and social. During the worst of the crisis, the commune [Comuna El Paso de Bolívar 1813, which includes the Mucuchies region] went dormant because we were on survival mode. We have experienced everything from food and fuel shortages to migration, from the kids losing access to schools, to family members dying do to medicine shortages, to suicides by parents who can’t feed their kids. The situation has been tragic.
I’m a teacher, and in my rural school we have gone from 120 to 75 kids. Why? It’s hard to make it to school, the school lunches are poor, and there are fewer teachers because they’ve migrated or are working elsewhere to make ends meet. However, I’m committed to teaching, and I will keep at it. I believe in this country. I want to see it get up on its feet once again, and an illiterate youth that looks for options elsewhere cannot rebuild the country!
Jesús (Lalo) Rivas Gil: Bolívar said: “They have dominated us more through ignorance than through force.” He was right. Many campesinos don’t understand that what we are living through is a human-made blight; it’s the opposition and its US bosses who caused the blockade. I think it’s important to understand this and act accordingly. It doesn’t matter if you are a Chavista or not. If you are a Venezuelan, you have to stand with your people.
Solutions
Irene Sánchez Méndez: Organization is key to keeping ourselves alive. In that, we have a huge advantage here in the highlands: PROINPA. The organization distributes seeds and that has allowed many campesinos to go on working, albeit producing much less than before.
It used to be that seed potatoes came from abroad, and often they came infested. By contrast, our seeds are much healthier and less dependent on expensive – and toxic – inputs sold by corporations. Now everyone is aware of how important initiatives such as PROINPA are.
But PROINPA is also a school. In it, we learned how to produce our own fertilizers. We also learned why our grandparents’ practices – from crop rotation to diversification – are so important for us to sustain ourselves and stay healthy. That’s why things are not so dire here as elsewhere.
But beyond PROINPA, I think that the most important solution to the crisis brought about by US sanctions is organization and, more specifically, the commune. Chávez said that we had no choice, that the only way to overcome the slings and arrows of capitalism is with the commune. I think that he was right: the people in charge of their own destiny is the only way forward!
José Orlando Parra: Old practices are coming back in the context of the blockade. When I was 10 years old, all the fields were plowed by oxen. Later, while the practice didn’t disappear, many yuntas [oxen teams] were replaced by tractors.
Today, however, car parts have become really expensive and fuel is hardly available, so we have been going back to using oxen. Yuntas have two advantages: they require no fuel and they are less harmful to the land because they only disturb the top layer. This is far more sustainable for the type of ground that we have in the highlands.
Gerardo (Lalo) Rivas Gil: I think that campesinos, when we organize, can come up with a roadmap for solving the problems that we face… but we can’t do it alone! The state has to listen to the vital forces of popular power and it has to act.
Beyond state fuel quotas and alternatives to intermediaries, such as the emerging Communal Productive Circuits, producers need credit lines to restore production to its former levels. The cost of producing per hectare is too high, so production keeps dwindling. Mind you, we are not asking for free money, we are asking for loans. I know that if credit is made available for Venezuela’s small and mid-size producers, the results will be evident in a few months.
Finally, regarding potato production, a protectionist policy must be implemented. Colombian potatoes are flooding the Venezuelan market. Of course, we have nothing against Colombian campesinos; they are our brothers and sisters. However, for our country to truly be sovereign, we need to protect Venezuelan production.
Marisol Montilla: The blockade has caused us to further commit to our country. Now, we are exploring new ways of increasing seed production and experimenting with different seed varieties.
In any case, if anybody had any doubts about our work at PROINPA, it’s now clear that the organization can offer many solutions to the many problems that campesinos are facing. And it’s not just about seeds, it’s about alternative ways of producing that take us out of the corporate loop. PROINPA is clearly on the right path!
Sovereignty
Rafael Romero: We believe that science and technology are necessary for us to achieve food sovereignty, but both have to be developed rationally and be centered on life. For instance, transgenics do not lead to sovereignty, but to dependency. When I say that we believe in using science and technology to achieve sovereignty, I say so in a comprehensive sense and as a promoter of the Campesino-Scientific Alliance: we need science and technology for the people and not for the few, who can end up monopolizing it.
The blockade has taught us that we are a highly dependent country. Let’s take this lesson to heart and turn it to our advantage. Let’s build networks to share what we have in terms of seeds and science; let’s work collectively; and let’s demand support from the institutions when needed. Agricultural production is strategic for the nation.
PROINPA has received support from the Ministry of Science and Technology and from other institutions, and this has been really important. However, for production to really reactivate around the country, more organization, more work, and more support are needed.
It all boils down to love for one’s country and one’s people. I think we can achieve this!
Caroly Higuera: In these times of blockade, I think we can become a model for other organizations around the country, whether cooperatives, communes, or other campesino organizations. I say this with no hubris: our achievements are collective and we have been privileged to get support from various institutions.
At CEBISA [PROINPA’s biotech lab], for instance, we kept going even in the worst of times. It is true that we encountered obstacles because we couldn’t acquire certain lab implements that come from abroad, but we’ve found alternatives.
Any Mora Castillo: PROINPA shows that we can be truly independent, and can break the chains of dependency with science and organization. This means science for the people – the kind of science that happens when those wearing lab coats live among the producers – is the solution. Our experience proves it: we’ve been able to go on delivering healthy seeds to producers even in these difficult times.
Gerardo (Lalo) Rivas Gil: PROINPA helps us break with the capitalist seed market, which necessarily leads to dependency and poverty. As we apply our own science and technology to production, we break away from the dictates of the market and we are able to better satisfy the needs of the people. When science and technology are put at the service of the pueblo, I call that sovereignty.
So that’s one of our strengths, but our other strength is organization. We’ve devoted ourselves to this endeavor for over 24 years, investing hard work, persistence, patience, and sacrifice. The experience shows that our democratic organization, with its monthly assemblies, constitutes a robust model.
Nevertheless, we need to increase in size, because when we talk about sovereignty, we are talking about a whole country breaking with dependency, not just a beautiful highland in the Andes producing a lot of healthy potatoes. That’s why we partnered with CODECYT [Corporation for Scientific and Technological Development] to work with campesinos in 18 states, bringing them seed potatoes and providing them comprehensive support. That amounts to an important step toward sovereignty!
Jesús Argenis Suescun Monsalves: PROINPA’s model is not complex: we are an association of people who want to produce, and we come together with shared objectives. Some are lab technicians and researchers, some work the fields, others do both – but here we are all equal. This means that any group of campesinos could reproduce that model. They could, like us, join forces to grow more food for the people. That’s what our country needs!
Alonso Trejo: Sovereignty is about a country being able to determine its future without foreign intervention. US Imperialism is determined to destroy our revolution because Chávez tried to make Venezuela both independent and socialist.
In this beautiful highland, we are determined to make sure that Chávez’s dream doesn’t disappear. Our contribution here is working hard so that we are sovereign in terms of seeds. In doing so, we are also showing that sovereignty is not a chimera: sovereignty is what we are building now at PROINPA!
(Cira Pascual Marquina is Political Science professor at the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela in Caracas and a writer and editor for Venezuelanalysis.com. Chris Gilbert teaches Marxist political economy at the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela. Gilbert and Pascual Marquina are creators of the Marxist educational program Escuela de Cuadros, broadcast on Venezuelan public television. Courtesy: Venezuela Analysis, an independent website produced by individuals who are dedicated to disseminating news and analysis about the current political situation in Venezuela.)
