ABSTRACT
Venezuelan agriculture during these centuries can be divided into two sectors: food produced for internal consumption and rood for export. The first sector was poorly developed; and the second has been very dynamic during various periods, but has always been subject to the vulnerability inherent in a one-export economy, and, as a result, to the periodic crises of international trade. The oil boom had positive and negative effects. In any case, it has been the determining force behind Venezuelan economic development. The government’s distribution of income generated by oil, accelerated urbanization, monetary stability, the growing value of the bolivar, and increased import capacity were some of its manifestations. Changes in the structure of agricultural production, mechanization and other technological changes, and illegal immigration, have made possible important increases in Venezuelan agricultural production in the past, given the situation of nearly constant availability of manual labor.
