Venezuelan President Maduro announced details of the new system on Friday (Prensa Presidencial) as basic, regulated food is being sold at black market prices, and gangs are smuggling food across the border to Colombia, the Venezuelan government has launched an offensive, and implemented a biometric system in shops across the country.

President president, Nicolás Maduro, plans to introduce a compulsory “biometric card” designed to limit individuals’ food purchases using a fingerprint scanner.

The move, announced on Wednesday, is part of the government’s latest effort to fight the oil-rich nation’s chronic food shortages, which it claims result from hoarding by speculators, who resell goods at a profit, and from smuggling into neighbouring countries.

This will be the second time the government has introduced a fingerprint-based system to track and limit food purchases.

Earlier this year, Venezuelans were encouraged to sign up voluntarily for a similar system to be used in government-run shops, promising to end scarcity of basic food stuffs and ease the queues outside grocery stores.

But this Secure Supply Card failed to survive beyond the trial phase.

“We are creating a biometric system … to function in all distribution and retail systems, public and private,” Maduro said in a televised address on Wednesday. “This will be – like the fingerprint scan we use in our electoral system – a perfect anti-fraud system.” He gave no further details about how the system will work or when it will come into effect.

According to government sources, more than 40% of goods purchased in Venezuela – including medicines and basic food stuff – are smuggled out of the country.

Price controls and heavy subsidies mean goods purchased in Venezuela can often fetch close to four times their original price if taken to neighbouring countries.