Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced the allocation of approximately 180,000 hectares of expropriated agricultural land to the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) of Brazil. This initiative, dubbed "Great Homeland of the South," aims to promote agroecological production.
Maduro stated on Venezuelan state television that this project will be a "cooperative, human project led by alternative peasant movements from around the world" in partnership with indigenous people and military personnel. The land will be used to cultivate food for consumption in Venezuela, northern Brazil, and for export.
The land was expropriated during the government of Hugo Chávez in the 2000s. Planned agricultural products include bananas, cassava, fruits, sugar cane, pumpkin, chicken, pork, beef, milk and dairy products, beans, vegetables, and corn. The project also includes the creation of a traditional seed bank, a nursery for reforestation in southern Venezuela, and a training school.