The Expoferia AgroAlba and the ALBA-TCP Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries meeting in Venezuela demonstrated a commitment to increasing production and initiating concrete sowing projects

By: Roberto Morejón

Although ALBA-TCP (the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of the Americas-People's Trade Agreement) meetings emphasise political and social aspects, they also promote interesting economic initiatives, such as those related to agriculture and fishing.

In this regard, the Expoferia AgroAlba and the ALBA-TCP Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries meeting in Venezuela demonstrated a commitment to increasing production and initiating concrete sowing projects.

Official representatives of ALBA-TCP member countries, together with businesspeople, investors, farmers and social movements, met to discuss ways to produce their own food.

At both the meeting of the heads of agriculture and fisheries and the AgroAlba Expo, it was made clear that there is no intention to compete with transnational food traders.

On the contrary, it is necessary to advocate our own approach to generating healthy nutrients in a sustainable way that respects the environment.

ALBA-TCP members have defined tactics and strategies to utilise all possible resources to achieve food sovereignty.

To this end, they consider it advisable to exchange knowledge, invest in technology and training, and formulate agreements.

Delegates from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia expressed their willingness to share experiences in order to improve development in each of these countries and promote cooperative production.

It is clear that the U.S. blockade, which affects Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, interferes with their aspirations to promote agriculture and fishing at the domestic and regional levels, but there is political and economic will to make progress in the agricultural sector.

Thus, ALBA-TCP members will increase the amount of land under cultivation, yields and labor, given the exodus from the countryside to the cities.

The general formulations in the aforementioned area may place ALBA-TCP in more favorable circumstances in times of trade wars and increased tariffs in the United States.

We see in the alliance the interest in exploiting an alternative that will make it possible to seek food sovereignty from the perspective of the global South, saving resources and benefiting the majorities.