Cattle theft in Sancti Spíritus has multiplied by 25 compared to last year this 2022. The figures are official, made public during a meeting of the Vice President of Cuba, Salvador Valdés Mesa, with the agricultural producers of that province. According to a note published in GranmaIn September alone, 292 of these crimes occurred in that territory. So far this year, 1,249 heads have been affected, compared to 48 in 2021.
All this, despite the new sanctions approved by the Government last August to try to avoid irregularities with the breeding and trade of cattle, which carry fines of up to 20,000 pesos.
Valdés Mesa assured that “intense work has begun with the organs of the Ministry of the Interior”, “a regular count of cattle has been established” and “surveillance and control guards have been intensified” to prevent these criminal acts.
The vice president did not miss an opportunity to blame the ranchers: “There is a lot of indiscipline, you have to control and register the cattle mass of the country. And if the rancher does not come to register, you have to go to his land to inspect. You have to put order in the countryside”.
“There is a lot of indiscipline, you have to control and register the cattle mass of the country. And if the rancher does not come to register, you have to go to his land to inspect. You have to put order in the field”
However, it was not the only problem that was on the agenda. Facing the “cold” campaign, Sancti Spíritus faces other obstacles. For example, a deficit in planting. Compared to the planned 5,974 hectares, 5,550 hectares were reached. The “non-compliance,” officials said, “is caused by fuel limitations and rain.”
At the same meeting, they emphasized “the need to use organic fertilizers such as earthworm humus, since there will be no chemical products: neither fertilizers nor pesticides.”
Although the rulers assured that the agricultural companies in the province “do not report defaults to producers”, they acknowledge that the Dairy Company owes 1,453 producers a total of 329,453 pesos, and the Meat Company owes 91 producers, a total of 43,048. pesos.
Regarding tobacco, there was talk, in the usual voluntarist tone, of “the importance of production in the territory given the considerable loss suffered in the country’s largest tobacco poles in Pinar del Río”, as a result of the hurricane ian scourgeon September 27.
There were also words at the meeting for sugar production. Azcuba’s representative in Sancti Spíritus, Aselio Sánchez Cadalso, recalled that the central Uruguay, “the colossus of Jatibonico”, will no longer grind cane, but only the Melanio Hernández Agroindustrial Sugar Company. The harvest begins on December 10, with 21,254 tons of sugar expected.
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