Poor Utilization of the Land Behind Food Shortages in Venezuela

[Socialistlemur]

4. They lack education and birth control

A fast growing population is caused by lack of birth control, poor education and lack of career opportunities for women. I have a friend who is an anthropologist and did work in eastern Venezuela, told me teenage pregnancy and unwed mothers are very common, and the government is very lax about it, they have no educational programs nor do they even hand out contraceptives. Its a very male dominated society. This of course perpetuates the vicious cycle of poverty, and leads to a very high crime rate. To compound the problem their jails are really bad and serve as schools for criminals. It's a recipe for a dysfunctional society. She is going to write her PhD thesis on this case but expects very little will be done. As for the land use, it seems to be a very large country, maybe they should not use foreign exchange controls to make national agriculture so uncompetitive. They have a bad case of Dutch Disease.