Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Polluting Pig Farms Shut Down

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

CARACAS, Aug 10 2009 (IPS) - The 43 pig farms that still operate in the Lake Valencia watershed in northern Venezuela will have to stop soon and retool for some other activity or move to a different site – in order to reverse contamination caused by the livestock waste. In the past two years, 59 pig farms have been shuttered.

“Our aim is to clean up the watershed, not to take away people's jobs,” Carmen Cannata, an official with the regional environmental agency, told Tierramérica. The farmers will receive credits and other assistance for the change. The president of the pig farmer association, Alberto Cudemus, supports the initiative.

The contaminated Lake Valencia covers 344 square kilometers. Its basin is home to several industrial cities, across 3,140 square kilometers and is fed by short rivers, including the Aragua, Turmero, Maracay and Cabriales.