Venezuela: the regime of Nicolás Maduro hands over one million hectares of crops to Iran

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will deliver one million hectares of crops in Iran to produce food, Iranian Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs Mohsen Kushki Tabar announced through the Persian agency “Tasmin”.

His counterpart in Caracas has not confirmed the news of the transfer of agricultural land from Venezuela to the Iranians, nor under what conditions this negotiation takes place, whether it is a loan, sale or loan and for how long. It is the first time that a Venezuelan government has signed such an agreement. without consulting parliament first.

But the Iranian deputy minister gloated over the announcement. “A plan as important for offshore cultivation as this one reveals Iran has become so big and strong and has reached such a high level in scientific exchanges, ”he said.

“It definitely means the knowledge-based technical knowledge of these (Iranian) companies that has leaked internationally,” Tabar said.

Iran requires 7 million hectares of agricultural land abroad to ensure their food security. In addition to Venezuela, Russia has recently offered 100,000 hectares, according to the IRNA agency, for Iranian agricultural projects.

Agreements

The director of the Transterritorial Crops Association of Iran, Ali Rezvanizade, assured this month that Venezuela can provide a better opportunity than Brazil and Russia for Iran’s agricultural projects overseas, including growing soybeans and corn, according to agencies.

The Iranians, neither short nor lazy, have taken very seriously the cooperation agreements with the Islamic Republic of Iran that Maduro signed a month ago, on 11 June in Tehran, with a duration of 20 years in various fields such as oil, energy, mining, agriculture, drone technology, food production, culture, tourism and aviation, among others.

So far it has signed the Chavista government about 250 offers bilateral with the Islamic government. After the unusual June signing in Tehran, Maduro stressed that 70% of Iran’s territory is desert, so its food production covers only 30% of its land.

While in Venezuela there are 30 million arable hectares that allow not only to increase the internal production of food, but also “producing food for export to Iran and the entire Asian region”He explained.

He stressed that the technology alliance is a key benefit for increasing production levels, based on the historical experience of Iran, published Telesur.

“I believe that between the two of us it will create an indestructible friendship for the future of our people and we will see how our countries grow in the face of difficulties and how a new world is growing“Maduro added.

He stressed that joint projects with Iran will be promoted to produce food in Venezuela that will supply the domestic market and export to Iran and the Asian region. “It is essential to consolidate the sovereignty and food security of our country”, she stressed.

Maduro’s first visit to Iran took place amid tensions across the Middle East over the collapse of the nuclear pact between the Iranian government and world powers. US sanctions and rising global food prices they are suffocating the struggling Iranian economy and increasing pressure on its government and population, the AP agency says.

But domestic producers are reluctant to see the Iranians land in the Venezuelan countryside. Alfonso of Agro Andino said on his twitter account that “Venezuelan farmers are going through a difficult period: the shortage of agricultural inputs, high fuel prices and low crop prices and the government will give Iran 1 million hectares of land. agricultural, why not support what is ours first? ” he asks.

Juan Guaidó has not yet decided to cede the land to Iran. However, until now, he has stressed that this type of bilateral agreement that Maduro has signed they are out of parliamentary recognition therefore they are not valid in the future.

Tehran-Caracas flights

Maduro also announced it a month ago direct flights resume between Caracas and Tehran, suspended for six years, on July 18. But officially they started on July 16 with a frequency of two weekly flights, on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

The curious thing is that with the Venezuelan-Iranian line Conviasa can be connected from Tehran to Guangzhou in China with the same frequency twice a week.

“Venezuela is open to receiving tourism from Iran so that they can enjoy the beauties of the Caribbean, South America, the Andes, the Amazon, “Maduro stressed last June during a joint statement offered to the Saad Abad Palace, located in Tehran.

About six years ago, when the flights between Caracas, Damascus and Tehran, inaugurated in 2009, were always suspected that the Airbus 340 t of Conviasauranium transported to the Iranian nuclear power plant. It was a mysterious fortnightly flight carrying few passengers, mostly Iranian and Syrian officials and businessmen, with suspicious internal cargo. “It wasn’t a profitable flight, it was political,” they said at the time.

The resumption of flights between Caracas and Tehran was not even interrupted by the scandal involving the flight of the Venezuelan-Iranian airline Conviasa, detained in Buenos Aires since June 6 on charges of transporting Iranian terrorists.

PB