Trujillo

Trujillo State demonstrates how altitude creates agricultural niches independent of lowland economies. The smallest Andean state (7,198 km²) occupies terrain where the Venezuelan Andes divide into three branches separated by the Motatán and Boconó valleys, rising to 4,006m at Teta de Niquitao. This geography—rugged mountains descending to Lake Maracaibo depression—creates the microclimate conditions that produce Venezuela's finest coffee.

Coffee cultivation defines Trujillo's economic identity alongside Lara and Portuguesa as principal producing states. The Maracaibo coffees (including Trujillo, Táchira, and Mérida varieties) exhibit classic Venezuelan qualities: sweet flavor, slight richness, balanced acidity. High altitudes slow bean growth, concentrating quality. Five Coffee Seed and Seedling Production Centers in Trujillo plus eleven producer associations institutionalize this agricultural specialization.

Agroecological practices have enabled Venezuela to produce 18 quintals of coffee per hectare nationally—yields that would be impossible without the traditional knowledge embedded in Andean farming communities. Beyond coffee, the state produces banana, sugarcane, corn, potato, beet, yucca, and notably 40,000 kg of mushrooms from Boconó.

The lowest absolute population among Andean states creates both vulnerability and potential: density exceeds Mérida despite smaller population, concentrating labor in productive valleys. The agricultural base that preceded oil—and survived oil's collapse—positions Trujillo to demonstrate whether specialty coffee can anchor regional economies when petroleum revenues fail.

By 2026, Trujillo's trajectory tests whether artisanal agricultural production can scale into significant export value, or whether infrastructure decay constrains even the crop most naturally suited to these mountain valleys.