In Venezuela, citizens are finding it hard to come by common foods such as coffee, milk, sugar, cornmeal and meat. In addition, many items are being imported to the country, as opposed to being grown on domestic farmlands, reports Fox News.
The problems have been attributed to an inflating economy, price fixing and the overall mishandling of expropriating lands to private owners.
With the passing of Hugo Chavez on March 5, who was just beginning his fourth six-year term as president, a new presidential election is underway. One of the leading contenders is Nicolas Maduro, the hand-picked successor of Chavez. He is running against Henrique Capriles.
You can't find anything," said Ermis Rodriguez, a 76-year-old retiree who was shopping in a Venezuelan market. "I voted for Chavez, but I'm not voting for Maduro. Things are getting worse."
Another patron, Sonia Pena, had similar complaints.
"It takes me all day, going from market to market, to get enough to feed my family each week," she told Fox News.
Under Chavez, who came to power in 1999, Venezuela was promised to become a self-sufficient supplier of foods as well as an exporting super-power.
However, his plan of expropriating lands and nationalizing food companies backfired. The 5.7 million acres of farmland were largely misused in the last 12 years, according to Fox. Many food-producing companies were selling items at unfair prices and were even conspiring against the government itself, according to Chavez.
Frozen beef imports have also risen 150 percent, which is nearly half the beef the country consumes, a process that has raised prices through the roof. The government also currently controls 40 to 75 percent of the market share for basic items such as rice and coffee. The same has been done to seed and fertilizer, which has disrupted the "entire chain of productivity" said Gerardo Barreto, President of the Chamber of Industry in Carabobo.
Capriles said the government ruined their own food market by nationalizing products. He says he will end expropriations and "promote dialogue between landowners and farm workers" Fox said. The presidential candidate would also like to create a micro-lending program for small farms and set up teaching institutions for agriculture.
Maduro would like to keep the state-sponsored food program in the works. He points to private food companies like Alimentos Polar as the reason for the subpar food quality and soaring prices. Smaller farmers simply cannot sell at the government-regulated prices because the loss would be too great.
Polar currently employs about 48,000 people and accounts for 10 percent of domestic food production, although all of their food deliveries are approved by the government prior to shipment. They claim they are operating at full capacity.
The Venezuelan election is set to take place this Sunday where food security will play a major role in the voters' decisions.
