The use of a blockade is so that a nation does not have access to produce its own food is unacceptable, affirmed this Friday the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) representative in Venezuela, Rolf Hackbart.
"It is unacceptable that the mechanisms of the blockade, from foreign financial systems, are used to prevent a nation from accessing food, to produce the food in their country for their people," expressed Hackbart in an interview with a local radio station.
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The official indicated that the prevalence of undernourishment in Venezuela from 2017 to 2019 is close to 30 percent of the population; and said that it is due to the "economic emergency through which the country has been going for several years."
"We need more public programs, national, regional, and municipal government programs for food production, but for that, we must have the freedom to import inputs and food," he said.
"Today, we celebrate all the #FoodHeroes who, despite COVID-19, have continued to work to bring food into our homes."
The FAO representative stated that Venezuela faces "enormous challenges" due to the blockade, and therefore requires assistance, as do as other countries.
Hackbart said that FAO has several projects in that South American country aimed at strengthening the productive sector's capacities at the national level and support for sustainable agricultural development to achieve food sovereignty.