Venezuela’s Farmland Sits Barren During Hunger Crisis
Photos from Portuguesa state show the nation’s farm crisis.
A tractor clears what was a cornfield near the town of Turén on Nov. 7. The acreage was unplanted due to a lack of seeds.
Photographer: Fabiola Ferrero/Bloomberg
Photographs by Fabiola Ferrero; story by Patricia Laya
As Venezuelans in cities scavenge for food, once-fertile farmlands are barren as well.
In western Portuguesa state, which was the nation’s breadbasket, hundreds of arable acres were lost after seeds didn’t arrive until the rainy season. Slugs and snails overran fields after pesticides disappeared when the cash-strapped government reduced imports. Thieves forage by night and a “cemetery of tractors” waits for replacement parts that never arrive.