Venezuelan Gov’t Joins Forces with Brazil’s MST to Boost Agroecological Food Production on Seized Land

Caracas, March 18, 2025 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The Nicolás Maduro government has announced a plan to advance food production in one of the country’s largest state-owned estates.

With a project called Patria Grande del Sur, Caracas wants to develop a 180,000-hectare plot called La Vergareña in Bolívar state into a major agriculture and cattle-rearing hub.

“This project could be classified as the largest one led by campesino movements in South America, to implement agroecological practices and produce organic food on a large scale,” Maduro said during a televised event on Thursday.

The Venezuelan president touted the estate’s potential to supply food for the country’s domestic market, as well as export to neighboring Brazil and other countries.

Maduro likewise announced that Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) would spearhead the project and that he would sign a decree to establish it. It is not clear if the Venezuelan government will transfer the land’s ownership to the MST, which holds land in collective ownership, or define an alliance model.

“I believe in the union of the peoples. That is why I have asked the MST to receive these highly productive lands and lead a South American project,” he added.

Originally set up by the Bolívar state governorship, La Vergareña was acquired by shipping and mining mogul Daniel K. Ludwig in 1953. The US businessman used the vast land holding to develop high-genetic-quality cattle breeds that were highly adapted to Venezuelan conditions.

In 1976, a Venezuelan business group owned by the Benacerraf family purchased the estate. In 2008, the Hugo Chávez government completed the nationalization of La Vergareńa under the 2001 Land Law that allowed the expropriation of idle private-owned land. It was dubbed at the time as the largest latifundio (unproductive large estate) in the country.

Local campesino and Indigenous communities received title deeds for small parcels over the years but the wider land-stead has remained largely unproductive. Its remote location in the southeast makes it difficult to access with very little road infrastructure servicing La Vergareña. Electricity and water supply are likewise absent in most of the plot, with fuel access another challenge, with state capital Ciudad Bolívar more than 200 kilometers away.

In 2024, the Maduro government placed renewed focus on the massive estate and urged Venezuelan social movements from across the country to join the effort. There were several workgroups set up, bringing together state institutions and grassroots organizations, before Thursday’s announcement.

However, the administration will need to make major infrastructure investments to boost the viability of Patria Grande del Sur.

Campesino sources contacted by Venezuelanalysis stated that the project has immense potential but that any significant productive efforts need to be preceded by state-led public works. 

Venezuelan Communes Minister Ángel Prado led a visit to La Vergareña last week alongside Agriculture Minister Julio León Heredia and praised the project’s potential as “a fundamental step towards productive independence.”

“From these beautiful liberated lands, we reaffirm our capacity to generate all the necessary food to ensure food sovereignty,” Prado wrote on social media. La Vergareña offers prospects for extensive production of corn, soy, sugar cane and vegetables, as well as raising cattle for beef and dairy purposes.

Prado has looked to incorporate Venezuelan communes in the Patria Grande del Sur initiative. The Communard Union, an organization bringing together more than 100 communes in 18 states, has deployed a permanent brigade in the territory for several months. 

Communard Union cadres have undertaken social diagnosis efforts with local communities, developed political and technical training programs, and assisted in the process of establishing a commune in the estate.

For its part, Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) has had an internationalist brigade in Venezuela since 2005. Over the years, it has worked closely with grassroots movements, particularly providing training and technical assistance for agricultural initiatives. 

With an estimated 1.5 million members and a presence in 23 of 27 Brazilian states, the MST is the largest progressive social movement in South America.

Edited by José Luis Granados Ceja in Mexico City, Mexico.