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Hungry Venezuela's crops rot in fields for lack of fuel
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-venezuela-crops-fe/hungry-venezuelas-crops-rot-in-fields-for-lack-of-fuel-idUSKCN22626HLA GRITA, Venezuela (Reuters) - With millions of people hungry in Venezuela, acute fuel shortages are forcing farmers to let crops rot in fields or feed them to livestock since they cannot transport food to market during the coronavirus quarantine.
Irrigation systems are halted in the western Andean highlands and laborers cannot get to fields for harvest. The fuel shortages have worsened in recent weeks as Washington has tightened sanctions on the socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro.
Even before the coronavirus crisis, some 9 million Venezuelans already were suffering from malnutrition, according to the U.N. World Food Programme, and the latest developments may make it increasingly difficult to keep the country in quarantine.
“I gave the lettuce to the cattle because it’s lost,” said Angel Mora, 55, a farmer in the agricultural hub of La Grita. “It makes me sad because this is our daily bread. We have to provide for our children and grandchildren.”
