Omani Outlook: 'Agroecology Offers an Alternative to Climate and Civilization Disaster'
In the heart of South America, Venezuela is embarking on a transformative journey in agriculture, with three distinct approaches gaining traction: agroecology, regenerative agriculture, and organic agriculture.
Agroecology, deeply rooted in Venezuela's ancestral Indigenous and Afro-descendant agriculture, is at the forefront of this movement. It emphasises the reproduction of life and harmony with nature, encompassing biodiversity conservation like forest regeneration. Esquisa Omaña, a Venezuelan biologist and ecologist, has focused her research on this holistic, knowledge-based approach, which combines traditional ecological wisdom with sustainable practices aimed at resilience to climate change and civilization collapse.
Regenerative agriculture, while sharing goals of sustainability, tends to focus more on experimental trials and best practices that restore and enhance soil health, biodiversity, and ecosystem functions. It is being promoted alongside agroecology through knowledge dissemination among farmers but is typically more focused on soil and ecosystem regeneration from a scientific and practical perspective.
Organic agriculture, legally recognized and regulated in Venezuela, especially following former President Chávez's 2004 declaration of Venezuela as a GMO-free territory, stresses the exclusion of synthetic chemicals and genetically modified organisms, promoting chemical-free crop and livestock production. However, it may not fully encompass the Indigenous and culturally embedded knowledge systems seen in agroecology.
The case of Pueblo a Pueblo, a plan for organizing production with a focus on conscious consumption built on planned production, is a basis for transformation, bringing together more and more cells to envision a national policy from the grassroots. This initiative, which distributes around 100 tons of food every month directly to schools, demonstrates that production is not the problem, but rather trade channels and the hijacking of distribution to convert food into a commodity.
The transition to agroecology needs to be subsidized to help campesinos change their production methods and focus on producing for their needs rather than for the market. The conuco, a practice of ancestral Indigenous or Afro-descendant agriculture in Venezuela, serves as a territory for the reproduction of life in harmony with nature. Certain principles of the conuco or agroecology, such as diversity of production and communal processes, can be applied to larger food-producing scales.
In 2004, Venezuela was declared a GMO-free territory by the government, and an alliance with Brazil's MST began, favoring agroecology. However, agribusinesses are seeking alternatives to their existing model due to the exhaustion of resources, and new terms like "climate-smart agriculture" and "regenerative agriculture" are being used to conceal corporate interests.
Agroecology is proposed as a solution to reduce vulnerability and build resiliency in the face of climate change, with a focus on local experiences and knowledge. It is considered the alternative to the collapse of agriculture systems, with technologies built on knowledge from the past to envision the future. In Venezuela, it stands out as deeply embedded in ancestral knowledge and social resistance, regenerative agriculture as a complementary, science-informed restoration approach, and organic agriculture as a legally framed category focusing on chemical and GMO exclusion.
- In the context of Venezuela's transformative agricultural journey, the approach of environmental-science – agroecology – is rooted in ancestral Indigenous and Afro-descendant knowledge, emphasizing life reproduction and harmony with nature.
- Education-and-self-development plays a crucial role in the transition to more sustainable agricultural practices, such as regenerative agriculture, which focuses on experimental trials and soil and ecosystem regeneration from a scientific and practical perspective.
- The shift towards lifestyle changes in food and drink consumption can contribute to the overall goal of sustainability, as initiatives like Pueblo a Pueblo demonstrate by promoting conscious consumption and removing the commodification of food.
