Venezuela: government and communities organize to ensure food distribution
Merida, February 27, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com) - Over the course of last week, the Venezuelan government's subsidized food system, Mercal, along with the new PDVAL markets run by the state oil company PDVSA, which sell products at nationally regulated prices, distributed 3,300 tons of basic foods through 666 special operations in 20 of Venezuela's 23 states, according to National Food Minister Félix Osorio.
Last Saturday alone, 454 small-scale, mobile food markets distributed 1,647 tons of food to local communities with the intention of serving "only those most in need," Osorio reported.
Reports in local and regional news last week documented the arrival of Mercal and PDVAL to local communities. For example, 150 tons of milk and 10 tons of food were sold in the island state of Nueva Esparta, 480 tons of food in the western state of Zulia, 300 tons of food in the state of Carabobo, 50,000 tons of food in distinct operations all over Caracas, 80 tons of food in 10 "little Mercals" in the state of Anzoátegui, 13 tons of powdered milk along with 9 tons of liquid milk by PDVAL in the city of Valencia, and 2.8 tons of powdered milk by PDVAL in the Portuguesa state capital Guanare.
The food minister explained that products are sold at regulated prices, but "we are conscious that the cost structures have their prices," assuring that prices are under evaluation and may be increased in the coming weeks depending on the results of investigations of each product's supply chain.
Last week's surge was a step toward the goal 74,000 tons of food that PDVAL aims to distribute during its second month, which began February 21.
In its first month, PDVAL sold a total of 2,300 tons of eight essential foods (rice, beans, oil, chicken, other meats, milk, and powdered milk). This "modest" start is projected to increase to 150,000 tons and 27 essential food products within two months, according to last week's assessment by PDVSA's Vice President of Commercial Refining and Provisioning, Asdrúbal Chávez.
To fulfill the goal, PDVAL will import 160,000 tons and Mercal will import 150,000 tons of food in coming weeks, Deputy Mario Isea, president of the food committee in the National Assembly, announced last Thursday. Over the course of the past month, the Food and Agricultural Services Corporation (CASA), the brand created by the government in 2003 to supply Mercal, imported over 186,000 tons of beef, chicken, margarine, powdered milk, and pasta.
Isea commented that PDVAL and Mercal provisions would cover a third of the national demand, which stands at 900,000 tons per month. Mercal satisfied 22% of national demand before PDVAL was created.
"There is no supply shortage in Venezuela, in any case there are specific food scarcities of some items, for which PDVAL and Mercal are a remedy, along with the communal councils, which exercise public vigilance of the food distribution chain," Isea asserted.
The myth of supply shortages propounded by what he called the "media matrix" would be proven false by the state's newest measures to combat poor distribution, he added.
Mercal and PDVAL's new mobile distribution outfits are monitored by the "Integral Food Control System" created by the government after the management-led industry shutdown five years ago, to make sure food distribution is proportional to regional population.
"We did an evaluation of food smuggling in the border zone and found anomalies, because in reality a large part of food distribution is in private hands, with a capitalist motive," reported the national superintendent of Silos, Storage, and Agricultural Warehouses (SADA), Carlos Osorio Zambrano, who coordinates the Integral Food Control System.
Mercal's Internal Challenges
Uneven distribution remains a serious obstacle for Mercal in many areas of the country. In the municipality of Mara, a mostly indigenous population in western Zulia state, 150 Mercal stores are reportedly only able to open once per week, because the half-ton of food they received weekly is sold in less than three hours.
A Mercal worker in Mara, Aurelio Avilez, claimed that those who run Mercal "are all corrupt, they have business deals with certain authorities or they just take the food on the road."
Luis Fernández, the vice president of Mercal, announced earlier this month that corruption cases in the subsidized market chain increased by 51% between 2006 and 2007. Of the 397 cases during that time span, the majority had to do with stealing and breaking of purchase quotas.
However, food hoarding does not take place in Mercal, Fernández insisted, making clear that foods are not re-routed away from Mercal stores. Instead, "the foods always arrive to their markets, but they do not last because of high demand."
Small-scale distributors such as those contracted by the Metropolitan Clinic in Caracas also illegally obtain and re-sell Mercal products at speculated prices, as they did with over a ton of food on February 16, Fernández pointed out.
On top of that, a large Mercal store and warehouse in Barinas state was sacked two weeks ago by an unidentified group of people. Local resident José López Murillo commented that, although he was not part of the pilfering, he thought that the reason for the action was the scarcity in basic, essential food items.
Investigations carried out by the office of the local mayor, Aníbal Chávez, determined that the actions were led by leaders of opposition political groups seeking to increase tension regarding food scarcities.
Community Responses
Internal investigations in Mercal have resulted in 1,300 dismissals for violation of food distribution norms, including 30 cases of corruption that are currently pending and could result in jail time for those under investigation.
External monitoring by local communal councils in team with the Integral National Customs and Tributary Service (SENIAT) and the national Consumer Defense Institute (INDECU) have also been amplified in several states, including the capital Miranda, Zulia, and the Andean state of Mérida.
Representative Isea explained that the aim of this effort is the joint articulation of policy among the Executive, Legislative, and Popular Power branches of the national government, and to be "a meeting place to listen to all sectors of the supply chain including private guilds, consumers, and others."
In a statement in early February, Isea reminded the public that communal councils are "completely qualified to exercise this surveillance," because the law on food hoarding and boycotts specifies it as one of their functions.
Articles 1, 6, 17, 19, and 31 of the law mandate that communal councils can participate directly in the national government's regulation of price controls, and "promote in the community the defense of its rights."
When the manager of a "MegaMercal" in the city of Mérida arbitrarily closed the store three weeks ago, leaving long lines of local residents empty-handed outside, residents of the local barrio called Campo de Oro denounced the act on a prominent local community radio station, Radio Ecos 93.9 FM: "Thanks to the behavior of an official who never knew how to value the citizens who remained waiting for hours anticipating...he decided to close and [expletive] the People."
The communities demanded federal government intervention and more Mercal stores to be constructed in Mérida.
Beyond surveillance, five Caracas community councils organized ambulatory distribution chains to bring 12,000 liters of milk to their communities, according to news reports on February 14. The milk was produced by the Social Production Enterprise (EPS, a new type of cooperative business promoted by the government) Los Llanos Milk Products (Prollaca).
The Bolivarian Federation of Cattle and Agriculture Farmers of Venezuela (FEGAVEN) also collaborated with the transport, and the innovative supply chain participants are now seeking government foundation support and anticipate sharing PDVAL's coming refrigerator system.
While Mercal and PDVAL accelerate their activities, community councils must observe the functioning of the systems in each locality with "their eyes peeled," Food Minister Osorio commented last week.
