Venezuela: Potential demand for cassava

Venezuela: Potential demand for cassava .1987. In: Global cassava research and development: The cassava economy of Latin America: A food staple in transition .Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT), Cali, CO. 39 p.

Price, credit, and government spending policies and their impact on agriculture in Venezuela are analyzed. The status of demand for fresh cassava is reviewed as well as the potential demand for both fresh and dried cassava. Cassava has much to offer as the cheapest source of energy in the tropics; yet the crop is out of the mainstream of government import substitution and agroindustrial policies, which are influenced by food processers who import their own raw materials. Production has stagnated with yields of 8 t/ha on 40,000 ha. Given its adaptation to different environments, cassava is an excellent candidate, in the long term, to substitute imported food/feed energy sources. The current dilemma of substituting expensive local grains for cheap imported ones while trying to provide cheap, abundant food to the urban consumer must be broken by means of productivity, rather than area expansion, so prices of local products can be kept low and competitive. There are good prospects for both fresh and dried cassava. The new CIAT storage technology will enable farmers from distant places to enter the market, while retailers will have fewer losses and will also be able to negotiate larger volumes at wholesale outlets. (CIAT)

Se analizan las politicas de precios, credito y desembolsos gubernamentales y su impacto en la agricultura venezolana. Se revisan el nivel de demanda de yuca fresca y la demanda potencial de yuca fresca y seca. Siendo la fuente energetica mas economica del tropico, la yuca ofrece muchas posibilidades; sin embargo, las politicas gubernamentales, influenciadas por los fabricantes de alimentos que importan sus propias materias primas, no contemplan la sustitucion de cultivos importados o agroindustrias. La produccion se ha estancado con rendimientos de 8 t/ha en 40,000 ha. Dada su adaptacion a diferentes ambientes, la yuca es un candidato excelente para sustituir, a largo plazo, las fuentes energeticas importadas para alimentos de consumo humano y animal. El dilema actual de reemplazar los granos locales de alto costo con granos importados de menor costo, a la vez que se intenta proporcionar abundante alimento de bajo costo al consumidor urbano, se debe solucionar con una medida de productividad y no de expansion de area cultivada; asi, los precios de los productos locales se pueden mantener bajos y competitivos. Existen buenas perspectivas tanto para la yuca fresca como para la seca. La nueva tecnologia de almacenamiento de CIAT permitira a los agricultores de diferentes lugares tener acceso al mercado, mientras que los minoristas tendran menores perdidas y podran negociar mayores volumenes en los mercados mayoristas. (CIAT)