The Venezuelan government and food producers have outlined a plan to guarantee the distribution of food if the South American nation’s energy crisis worsens, an industry official said on Friday.
Venezuelan Pork Federation president Alberto Cudemus said government and private-sector representatives met the previous evening for talks on how to insulate the food sector from power outages. He said the plan involves reducing water use and investing to make food producers self-sufficient in energy within 90 to 360 days.
How long it takes will hinge on both the private sector’s willingness to make the investments, and the government that is managing permits to import electrical generators and giving access to foreign currency to purchase the equipment, Cudemus said.
“We are sort of racing against the clock in the food sector and do not want to let the country down,” he added.
Venezuela has implemented power rationing and rolling blackouts in some states to prevent a collapse of the electrical grid as water levels behind the Guri Dam — which supplies roughly 70 percent of the nation’s electricity — fall precipitously amid a severe drought.
Opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accuse the government of failing to invest in electricity production over the last decade amid rising demand; Chavez denies that.
State news agency ABN reported that the government committed to exempt food producers and plants from power cuts as part of its energy rationing plan.
Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Friday that the government was bringing in gas and diesel generators with an output of 1,200 megawatts to cover demand from state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA.
“Before the end of the year is the time frame we estimate for electrical self-sufficiency,” Ramirez told ABN.
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