the low pork production Due to lack of feed, as well as the delay in the delivery of land to pig farmers, the criticism of the President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, who participated this Saturday in the National Plenary of Pig Farmers, was the focus.
“We have to be aware that there are alternatives, that we have to generate consensus, and also that we have to socialize the best experiences that are responding to the main challenge to increase pig production, and that is in the generation with national sources of food for this small cattle,” said the president, quoted by the official newspaper Granma.
President @DiazCanelB He considered it inconceivable that today lands are given in usufruct to people who keep them idle, while good pig producers who ask for them to dedicate them to the production of animal feed, the procedures are delayed. pic.twitter.com/fqraOP4ScD
— Cuba Presidency ?? (@PresidenciaCuba) April 9, 2022
Until the meeting, held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Agriculture (Minag), proposals came such as the need to apply the results of scientific research and eliminate bureaucratic obstacles for the delivery of land in usufruct to producers, according to national media.
Given the lack of feed, the authorities of the agricultural sector have asked producers to use other options such as planting cassava or corn to feed the pigs, but the delay in the delivery of land for this purpose is notable.
During the meeting, criteria such as those of the Pinar del Río producer Reynier de Jesús were heard, who, out of a total of 3,000 pigs «in good times» has come to keep only about 1,500 thanks to the fact that, «when the crisis arrived, he already had 40 hectares planted with land only for animal feed”.
Said number of hectares, however, is insufficient, he said, and as quoted Granma argued: “We need everything that is produced and is not fit for human consumption, for one reason or another, to be delivered to us.”
The exchanges with producers began in the second half of March at the local level and involved almost 7,000 people linked to the industry, including more than 4,400 producers and 945 cooperatives.
The production of pork, one of the most demanded foods on the Cuban table, is currently below the expected yield due to the cessation of the importation of feed (food for pigs), according to the Government.
According to official figures released by state television, the production of some 26,000 tons of pork is expected by 2022, much lower than the almost 200,000 in 2017.
The president of the Minag livestock group, Yoan Sarduy, assured that they are working on a program with some 50,000 hectares to achieve the production of some 125,000 tons of meat.
Efe/OnCuba.
