January 6, 2025
AgroALBA is a multilateral platform promoted by the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) with the aim of implementing cooperative actions to promote agricultural production and food sovereignty in member countries and the region.
In collaboration with Venezuela’s International Center for Productive Investment and within the framework of Petrocaribe (ALBA’s energy stronghold), one of AgroALBA’s main actions is the allocation of 10,000 hectares of Venezuelan productive land to member countries so that each nation can develop their own agricultural proposals on Bolivarian soil, taking advantage of the country’s geographic and climatic diversity.
Although the efforts shared by the ALBA-TCP countries over several years in agricultural matters are remarkable, it was during the summit held recently in Caracas on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the integration bloc that President Nicolás Maduro made official the launching of the AgroALBA initiave.
In this regard, he indicated that they will soon provide details on how the initiative will work in the productive lands of the ALBA-TCP countries and remarked that the project aims to provide “organic and healthy food for all the peoples of Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and beyond”.
The Head of State stressed the need to implement “agroecological methods to achieve a regenerative production of our lands, without toxic agrochemicals” and he made a strong call to reject harmful agricultural practices. “No to poison, no to transgenic seeds, yes to life”, he stated with determination.
In addition to promoting sustainable agricultural projects, AgroALBa’s objectives include the development of rural infrastructure, technology exchange, the creation of regional markets and resilient capacities in the face of climate change, and cooperation with international organizations such as Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and other UN agencies to access technical and financial resources for the benefit of the food sovereignty of the alliance’s member countries.
ALBA is made up of Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, Grenada and St. Lucia, with Syria, Haiti, Palestine and Suriname as special guests, and recently included São Tomé and Príncipe as the first African nation to join AgroALBA.
On this occasion, the Executive Secretary of ALBA, Jorge Arreaza, said that AgroALBA -like Petrocaribe- is a productive alliance with countries of the South, in which the member countries of the bloc make their lands available to generate jobs, investments, research and food security.
Surely Chávez and Fidel “would have been very happy with this alliance”, he expressed, while he predicted that the initiative and the rapprochement between our countries and Africa will generate “bridges for the future and will define power and its geopolitical distribution in the world”.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English