ABSTRACT
The growing urbanization and increasing prosperity of Venezuela’s petroleum-based economy are part of the cause of the problem, and also the hope for a solution. Since the boom in oil revenues in the early 1970s, Venezuelan democratic governments have recognized the need to “sow the oil” in order to reverse the dangerous dependency on imported food and to develop a balanced, stable economy for the day when the high petroleum income will no longer be available. Venezuelan scientists and agricultural officials have always recognized the importance of climate and weather fluctuations and ecosystem diversity in Venezuelan agriculture. Corn is an integral part of the basic daily Venezuelan diet and because of that, it is grown the whole length and breadth of the nation, often in areas that are inadequate for its cultivation. One of the most serious problems confronting corn cultivation in the Western Llanos is the erratic arrival of the rainy season.
