海角大神

To answer how Venezuela could solve its persistent food shortage, President Nicol谩s Maduro recounted how he and his wife grew pumpkins on their patio for a soup that tasted 鈥渓ike heaven.鈥�

鈥淗e who learns to cultivate in his city, his school, his university, his factory, in his communal space ... cultivates another form of faith in life,鈥� said Mr. Maduro, when he promoted the 鈥淕reat Agro-Venezuelan Mission.鈥� 鈥淲e need to plant to ensure food sovereignty.鈥�

Months later, Venezuelans鈥� responses to the urban farming program are lukewarm. Some city farmers acknowledge the time they spend in their gardens has reduced their time waiting in grocery lines on the street, in addition to improving their diets. However, economists and Venezuelans have said the program has been stifled by a lack of both government support and arable land in the country underutilized, as well as the government ignoring the root of the country鈥檚 economic woes.

Twitter has become a platform for Venezuelans to voice their frustration, The Washington Post reports.听

鈥淯rban Farming in Venezuela. Thanks to @Nicolas Maduro鈥� read one tweet accompanied by a photograph of a man and a dog sifting through trash, 鈥渁 common sight in Caracas as food supplies dwindle and black market prices soar,鈥� writes the Post鈥檚 Sofia Barbarani.

鈥淏BC Venezuela report has Chavistas explaining how they're going to feed people, grow medicine, through urban farming. No, really,鈥� wrote another Twitter user.

Under the program, Maduro and the Ministry of Urban Agriculture encouraged city dwellers to grow fruits and vegetables on balconies, roofs, and barracks, as the country faces a major economic crisis and widespread food shortages. The country鈥檚 goal is to grow 3,500 metric tons听of fruits, vegetables, and herbs this year, with the ministry suggesting citizens can produce 20 kilos (nearly 45 pounds) of fruits and vegetables on just one meter of land.

But from May to July, some 135,000 Venezuelans produced 273 metric tons in urban settings, according to the first government data since the push. Moreover, only about 8 square miles (21 square kilometers) have been planted since the project was started eight months ago, far short of the 4,600-square-miles (12,000 square kilometers) the ministry promised to plant in the first 100 days.

Part of the problem is a lack of government support and mismanagement, critics say. The Maduro administration promised to invest $300,000 in seeds, equipment, and education projects, and to assist with logistics, according to the Post. But critics have said the project has targeted the wrong spaces. According to economists, swathes of arable land in the country are underused, since much of it was expropriated under past socialist leaders. Water and electricity shortages have also made it difficult for farmers to tend to existing crops. As city farmers search for ways around these challenges, food shortages and inflation continue in Venezuela.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the result of many factors, including decreasing purchasing power as the cost of food goes up more quickly than wages, and years of policies to keep food prices low for consumers, reducing incentives for private production,鈥� 海角大神鈥檚 Whitney Eulich and Mariana Zu帽iga reported in June.

And the falling price of oil has exacerbated the problem for the nation.

Rising inflation and government mismanagement have led to riots and looting, a black grocery market, and concerns about malnutrition, especially among children.

Some Venezuelans do see one benefit of the program: It reduces their time on the streets of Caracas, where crime has skyrocketed.听

A program like Venezuela's also has some precedence. Havana, Cuba, became the greenest city in Latin America following a sustainable agriculture program during the 鈥淪pecial Period鈥� in the 1990s after the collapse of its cold war benefactor, the Soviet Union.

But Venezuela鈥檚 food problems are just one visible sign of the growing tension of the country amid its economic problems. Some economists predict that tension will eventually erupt.

That tension has already started to mount. According to the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict, there were 954 protests over food shortages in the first six听months of 2016, an average of five听a day,听90 percent听more than in 2015. At least 516 instances of looting听or attempted听looting occurred in the same period, according to the CBC.

"When a country has its population eating out of the garbage, then they are ready to hear other options," economist Angel Garcia Banch told the CBC.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles has called for a recall of Maduro. But the recall was postponed until further notice, with the courts claiming electoral fraud committed by members of the opposition. Other opposition leaders have also called for hundreds of thousands of protesters to march against the government. The next large protest march is scheduled for Thursday to The Palacio de Miraflores, the presidential palace, according to the CBC.

Yet, some Venezuelans do see another added benefit to urban farming 鈥� better nutrition.

"We're not growing to fill our stomachs, but to eat better," Militza Perez, a bank worker who grows her own peppers, chard and other herbs on a roof garden, told Reuters in August.

This report contains material from Reuters.听

听

听