Agro-food Systems as territories of Resistance: Ancestral Knowledge and Ecosystemic Dialogues in the Face of Venezuela’s Multidimensional Crisis

The last decade in Venezuela (2014-2024) has been defined by a profound multidimensional crisis, exacerbated by unilateral coercive measures imposed by the Global North. These measures severely impacted national income, oil production, and access to basic goods. This scenario—which triggered hyperinflation, deindustrialization, and mass migration—was further compounded by the economic, political, and social disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, within Venezuelan peasant, indigenous, and Afro-descendant communities, the crisis also catalyzed the resurgence of resistance strategies centered on local agro-food systems and the conuco as a pivotal axis for ancestral food production and the reproduction of life. This article documents resistance experiences in two geohistorical contexts: the Afro-Caribbean community of Cuyagua (Aragua State, North-Central Caribbean socio-bioregion) and the community of Kavanayén (Pemón indigenous nation, Bolívar State, within the Amazonian territory of the Venezuelan Great Savannah). Drawing on horizontal dialogues and engaged ethnography with community members, we account how small-scale agriculture is indeed a core element for the expanded reproduction of life, highlighting the fundamental role of women in sustaining the community networks that enable the conuco to thrive. It is argued that the mobilization of ancestral knowledge and the community management of the means of production shape autonomous agro-food circuits, decoupled from global market dynamics and oriented toward food sovereignty. Driven by a politics of desire and grassroots organizational structures, these processes constitute a praxis of resistance against the extractive logics of the Plantationocene. Finally, it is concluded that local agro-food systems generate diverse economies based on barter (reciprocity) and networks of care—encompassing both human communities and nature—that allow them to withstand the onslaught of crises. Thus, peasant forms, permeated by ecosystemic dialogues, enable processes of socio-ecological resistance and the conservation of tropical ecosystems.