The Minister of the Food Industry of Cuba, Manuel Sobrino, affirmed today that the measures implemented in the country to boost agricultural production show their first signs of effectiveness in this sector.
The minister, speaking on the Mesa Redonda radio and television program, referred in particular to deliveries of milk and meat to processing plants, two basic items for the population that replace imports.
He pointed out that in the first month of 2022 the agreed figures were met, while the contracting process progresses directly with each producer, with the aspiration of assuring as much as possible the amounts required by the Caribbean nation to support the regulated basic basket.
More than one million 200 thousand children and almost one million medical diets receive milk at subsidized prices, hence the importance of guaranteeing with national raw material a resource that has risen in price on the international market and has been affected in recent months. , he specified.
Sobrino also commented that the provisions approved last year establish a payment in freely convertible currency for those who exceed the contracted figures, and that for this concept around one million dollars reached the hands of milk producers to reinvest them, while a similar amount meat producers received.
These results show us the strength of the measures and that we are on the right path, assured the minister, and maintained that they are working to achieve better returns in the future.
Cuba adopted in 2021 a package of 63 measures to promote agricultural development, several of which have an impact on the food industry when referring to lines that serve as raw material.
Among them are the realization of more realistic contracts with each of the producers and that they be applied with greater rigor, the increase in the price of milk sold to processing plants, bonuses for overcompliance in some lines and penalties for noncompliance with what planned, among others.
The priority of our sector is that there be a real increase in production, said the minister, who also alluded to the challenges represented by the transformations in the industry, direct attention to producers and daily payment to them.
