MIAMI, United States. – The Cuban Government transferred to an unidentified Vietnamese company the management of 308 hectares of land in the province of Pinar del Ríowith the aim of increasing rice production, according to the official newspaper Granma. The short-term purpose is to expand the areas to reach 1,000 hectares throughout the first months of this year, in an effort to reverse the country’s rice crisis.
According to the information published, the first plots transferred to foreign investment are located on the flat terraces of Cubanacán, belonging to the Los Palacios Agroindustrial Grain Company. This entity had suffered a notable productive decline, despite having irrigation systems considered among the most advanced in the nation.
“In recent months we have had to work hard to condition them so that they can be used,” confessed engineer Jorge Félix Chamizo, deputy director of the entity, when explaining the cleaning and recovery work of fields and canals.
Likewise, he acknowledged that the project is part of a series of policies aimed at expanding foreign investment, including the possibility that the Vietnamese firm “will directly hire the Cuban workforce it needs.”
As part of its participation, the Asian country company will cover the supply of fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides; while the Cuban entity will be in charge of providing the machinery.
Chamizo also highlighted the introduction of hybrid varieties from Vietnam, with which the demand for seed per hectare will decrease. The initial goal is to achieve yields of seven tons per hectare the first year and increase to eight from the second, well above the 1.7 tons currently planned by the Pinar del Río company.
The new technologies and cultivation methods will arrive accompanied by Vietnamese specialists. “We are adapting our techniques to the conditions of Cuba,” said the foreign company’s expert, Duong Ho Van.
An important part of the actions includes the restoration of the roads and the airfield within the farm, as well as the revitalization of the rice industry damaged after the passage of Hurricane Ian in 2022. According to Chamizo, “areas have been cleaned and rehabilitated the roads, the irrigation and drainage systems, and the aviation runway (…). In a short time we have completely changed the environment, because we have all the interest in the world for this to turn out, and for it to turn out well.”
The official report does not clarify to what destination the rice produced in the areas handed over to the Vietnamese company will go, although the authorities assure that it will remain in Cuban territory. In September 2024, during the visit to the island of Vietnamese President To Lam, both countries signed a plan to boost rice production and “gradually guarantee food security in Cuba” until 2035.
The investment comes at a critical moment for the supply of rice on the Island. At the beginning of September, the Minister of Internal Trade, Betsy Díaz, admitted that it had not been possible to meet the quota corresponding to August in several municipalities and recognized that the cereal situation is “critical”.
Official figures indicate that in 2023 only 27,900 tons of rice will be produced, a 90% drop in the last decade. In 2022, Cuban farmers reported losses instead of profits, despite the promises of benefits that Vice Prime Minister Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca had made.
