B1 – Intermediate
Venezuelans are experiencing food shortages in their country. The government came up a with a solution and decided to have shoppers scan their fingerprints to monitor the groceries they purchase. Venezuelans think this is illegal and that it will take their privacy away from them.
Read the article and express your thoughts about it.
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1408/140825-food-shortages.html
Vocabulary Questions:
- What does “panic buying” mean? “It’s a kind of panic buying. President Nicolas Maduro has started a new system to stop people buying too much.” Use it in your own sentence.
- What is a “smuggler“? “The government blames smugglers who buy cheap goods and take them to Colombia to resell them for up to four times their original price.” Use it in your own sentence.
- Can you give 1 synonym of “shortage“? “There are many reasons for Venezuela’s food shortages.” Use “shortage” in your own sentence.
Discussion Questions:
- Do you think that fingerprint scanning is the solution to the food shortage that they are experiencing? Explain.
- In your opinion, what is the best solution to this problem?
- Have you experienced food shortage in your country? Talk about it in detail.
29 replies on “Shoppers in Venezuela to be Fingerprinted”
1. Do you think that fingerprint scanning is the solution to the food shortage that they are experiencing?
Not because it is an illegal practice. It is confidential data of people and cannot be used to control the purchase of food.
2. In your opinion, what is the best solution to this problem?
One option is to allow businesses to make more food. It is also important to help farmers, ranchers and food-making companies
3. Have you experienced food shortage in your country? Talk about it in detail.
In Spain during the first days of COVID there were problems with some products, such as toilet paper. It was only a few days and with very few products. No food problems
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Do you think that fingerprint scanning is the solution to the food shortage that they are experiencing? Explain.
No i don’t think so, because is an expesive solution and it would be necessary to invest in software and devices to control this situation.
In your opinion, what is the best solution to this problem?
They can use the economic resource to invest in agriculture or import food from other countries.
Have you experienced food shortage in your country? Talk about it in detail.
Yes, when covid19 started all people started to buy a lot of food. It only showed that social panic was not controlled and people buy more than what they need to survive
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1. Do you think that fingerprint scanning is the solution to the food shortage that they are experiencing? Explain.
I do not think so. With this solution government is taking away people’s privacy and it makes them feel controlled and uncomfortable buying food, a basic for a family. And this solution can cost a lot of money if it is fair developed. It needs a software installed in all shops of the country, share database, control of the single people and family, it is no the same buy food for a family than for a single person.
2. In your opinion, what is the best solution to this problem?
Maybe increase the price of the food and education with campaigns against the waste of food or better food usage.
3. Have you experienced food shortage in your country? Talk about it in detail.
Yes, I have experienced a similar situation in Covid-19, but not food shortage exactly. People were in panic and they bought a lot of food in a short time, just in case we could not go out for a long. Shops and supermarkets took longer than normal to restock food and groceries.
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1. Do you think that fingerprint scanning is the solution to the food shortage that they are experiencing? Explain.
I think isn´t the solution, but is good point to begin to get something, because it will be that some people can´t buy food to reseller it abroad.
2. In your opinion, what is the best solution to this problem?
The best solution is open the doors to the free market and the companies fix the prices to the food.
3. Have you experienced food shortage in your country? Talk about it in detail.
I´m not, but long time ago after the civil war, people don´t have access to some foods, and only people with money could eat good aliments.
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**Discussion Questions:**
1. Do you think that fingerprint scanning is the solution to the food shortage that they are experiencing? Explain.
I don’t think so. The solution is not to control trade. The law of supply and demand adjusts it.
2. In your opinion, what is the best solution to this problem?
I really think the government should change some of its ideas and ways of managing the country.
3. Have you experienced food shortage in your country? Talk about it in detail.
Yes, it was in the covid pandemic. Suddenly people started to buy large amounts of toilet paper and any other basics. Then supermarket set up shortages
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1. Do you think that fingerprint scanning is the solution to the food shortage that they are experiencing? Expain.
From my point of view, that fingerprint scanning isn’t the best solution to the food shortage that they are experiencing because I think this is a polemic decisión that could cause chaos and led people try to falsificate fingerprints, I mean “Every law has its loophole”.
2. In you opinion, what is the best solution to this problem?
In my opinion, the main cause of this problem is in the actual government in general but, focusing in this case, the actual goverment goods management. I think that the country needs a political system change, they need a government that start to open the country to the goods import and export and be less restrictive in prices in order to foment internal production increase.
3. Have you experienced food shortage in your country? Talk about it in detail.
Yes, I have experience a similar (but les dramatic) situation during the Covid pandemic. For example, people suddenly started buying large quantities of toielt paper and masks and I think it was a kind of illogical panic buying
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1. Do you think that fingerprint scanning is the solution to the food shortage that they are experiencing? Explain.
I think that figerprint scanning isn’t the solution to the food shortage in Venezuela, I think the government must implement the necessary measures to make new companies are established there and to incentivize companies that are already there.
2. In your opinion, what is the best solution to this problem?
Like I said in my answer to the first question, the government must implement economic measures to make grow the economy.
3. Have you experienced food shortage in your country? Talk about it in detail.
I experienced food shortage hear in Spain in covid-19 time when people bought like if there wasn’t next day.
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1. Do you think that fingerprint scanning is the solution to the food shortage that they are experiencing? From my point of view, I guess it isn´t the best option to solve the food shortage problem and to mantain under control the situation. In practice, the fingerprints can be falsified, there are many families with special needs (allergies and intolerances), apart from the large ones. Meanwhile the Government continues doing nothing to solve it.
2. In your opinion, what is the best solution to this problem? In my opinion it would be essential the Government take part in the solution. It would be an alternative to allow the country to export/import staple food and other basic products.
3. Have you experienced food shortage in your country? Yes, I have experinced a similar situation when the Covid pandemic arrived three years ago. During several months there were shortage of several products, such as: flour, sugar, toilet paper and fruit. Later on arrived a driver´s strike, so the problem got worse affecting to milk distribution, sunflower oil and so on.
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1 – I think fingerprint scanning is not the solution to the food shortage that they are experiencing. The fingerprint scanning will cause chaos for people to buy and try to falsify their orders or search the black market.
2 – The goverment should improve their management of the goods. The goverment should be changed and new one should have better relationships with other countries to imports goods. Also if the goverment is not as restrictive in prices productors will produce more quantity to cover all the internal market.
3 – I never have experimented food shortage in Spain, but in the past people had experimented it during Civil War. Something similar, but to a much lesser extent, was during the COVID pandemic when people went for certain products (toilet paper, flour, yeast,…) thinking that there was going to be a shortage. This situation shouldn’t cause chaos, because even if you buy more than you really need, you will still be without it in the future (perhaps a week later if you have bought a lot).
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1- I think this control is only usefull to control the good persons and incentivate the pirate mercate.
2- The best solution is incentivate the production and work. If you have natural resours, you can produce more and then the price decrease and then in the market are sufficient product.
3- Not, in spain it doesn’t happen. Only for Covid pandemia, in some days decrease products in the supermarkets.
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1- Never, the radical control isn’t a good idea. The problem of Venezuela isn’t the people, the problem is the management of the Goverment of this country.
2- I think that the principal change shoiuld be pay better to the companies for they can produce more, after, Venezuela needs change his President because is a incompetent manager and just want money and power.
3- No, never, but my granma always been obsesive with not trash the food because she pass a war and the food was shortage and maybe in a day just ate a potato or piece of bread.
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1. Do you think that fingerprint scanning is the solution to the food shortage that they are experiencing? Explain.
Firt off all, i would like to know how they pretend to do that, because it sound hard to implement and dificult to acomplish although if they make it, it would be an interesting way to avoid the focus in the real problem.
2. In your opinion, what is the best solution to this problem?
In my opinion a solution, maybe not the best one, is to impeach the president and reduce the feed shortage by import goods from US,
3. Have you experienced food shortage in your country? Talk about it in detail.
Yes i have experienced food shortage, we all have. The time i remember something like that it was in 2020 becuase of the pandemic situation. The lack of transportation and the reduction people all over it was a bigg situation that made posible the shortage
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In my opinion, it isn’t a good idea to scan people’s fingerprint to control everything they buy or the amount of their purchases. To start with, what are the consequences if someone exceeds the purchase limit? What will the government do? Will they deny people the right to buy the amount they need even if they are paying with their own money? And what about large families? Obviously, a person who must feed and maintain four children will need to buy more food that one who lives alone. There are many personal variables that are beyond the reach of the government, and they don’t seem to be considering it.
I think that the best solution to this problem would be a profound change in the political system of Venezuela, with the main objective of improving the quality-of-life of the citizens.
In my country, supermarkets were empty especially in the candy, flour and toilet paper sections when Covid-19 arrived. However, there wasn’t any kind of control: if a person bought 10 units of toilet paper packs, that was not a problem at all.
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Joaquinpb
1.-No, I think that what has to be is food availability for everyone
2.-Work for the people, fair distribution of goods
3.- No, fortunately I have not felt it but due to the pandemic there are many people who have lost their jobs and therefore the ability to buy food
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1 – In my opinion, fingerprint scanning will not solve the food shortage problem because of the main responsible for the food shortage is the Government that applies its export/import policies. This country is not self-sufficient to produce all the goods needed then, they must be imported.
Exporting countries don’t want to export to Venezuela because of the internal crisis and high delinquency rate for defaults. While this situation continues, the food shortage won’t be solved.
2 – The best solution for this problem should be call to vote the entire country and, the new Government (that should be more democratic), should begin to open the country to the importation/exportation, make plans to dinamize the economy, opens the market to new manufactures and industries.
3 – No, in my current country I never suffered food shortage but, when I was living in Brasil, I have had a similar experience when Fernando Collor (an ex-president of the Government) has frozen the salaries and confiscated the savings.