FARMERS in St Vincent and the Grenadines will have access to some 25,000 acres of land in Venezuela to produce food as part of the AgroAlba agreement both countries signed on Wednesday.

A release from the Government of St Vincent and the Grenadines says the agreement seeks to boost agricultural production to guarantee food sovereignty for the countries in the bloc. It was signed by the Venezuelan Minister for Agriculture and Lands Menry Fernández and his counterpart from St Vincent and the Grenadines, Saboto Caesar.

“Come to Venezuela to invest in rural development, to invest in improving the capacity of our soil. To improve the capacity of our land and increase our yield to attract technology and so that we can gradually become a food exporter, ” Venezuela authorities said at the signing.

For his part, the minister from St Vincent and the Grenadines highlighted the investment potential offered by Venezuela. On this point, he stated that it is an

“opportunity to produce food ” in an affordable way and thus achieve “ food sovereignty.”

“ We are not here as guests but as people who are going to take action,” said Caesar.

“We are starting this project, which is extremely important because it is a living testimony of what President Hugo Chavez wanted. We have to work together within ALBA to ensure that we have productivity and that there is always trade between our countries,” said the minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

AgroAlba is a proposal for agro-food sovereignty and development within the framework of ALBA-TCP and Petrocaribe.

Venezuela, with its rich geographic and climatic diversity, has immense agricultural and livestock potential. This project seeks to boost its agricultural sector, taking advantage of its productive lands and the talent of its farmers.

This project is expected to begin with the allocation of 10,000 hectares of productive land to companies from each participating country, allowing each nation to present its project in agricultural or livestock areas.

These actions contribute to the construction of a global south bloc that promotes the agro-food sovereignty of peoples and cooperation and joint development of the continent. “We now have more land with less natural disaster vulnerabilities such as volcanic eruptions and major hurricanes [resulting from climate change impacts] noted Caesar.