Pedro Rubio Tristá is one of the most successful ranchers in Las Tunas, he delivers a multitude of fattening bulls to the State and overcomplies with meat and milk plans. In addition, he says he receives payments in foreign currency and sells the sweet potato to the State at a good price. However, he made the unforgivable mistake of selling five cattle to a cousin and, although he did not reduce the number of livestock, this has meant that he has been prohibited from slaughtering any animal in 2022.
“He doesn’t understand and considers it extremism,” says a extensive report from the official press that reflects in detail the problems that producers face and explains in a crystal clear way why there is no meat or milk in the Cuban markets.
“There has been no cadre here for more than two years. The milk and meat plans are imposed on us from an office,” says Dilber Leyva, president of a Las Tunas cooperative that exposes the problems with dairy products and regrets that the leaders prepare plans without looking at the peculiarities of the territory and, much less, of each individual.
“There has been no painting here for more than two years. The plans for milk and meat are imposed on us from an office,” Dilber Leyva blurts out.
One of his producers, he says, had to deliver the 500 liters of milk that he was entitled to for having 10 cows last year, but four of them were pregnant, so the result was unfeasible. “He had to pay large sums of money for failure to comply with the plan when he objectively could not do it,” he reproaches. At the same time, non-payment of fines are high because many do not have the money, which generates a debt in the cooperative that, consequently, cannot make the payments either. The fish that bites its tail.
“The cooperative’s milk debt due to fines amounted to 215,000 pesos last year because 50 producers did not honor the projections. And for three months we could not pay the farmers because the Dairy Company retained that money for the debt,” he continues. And to top it off, the bank (Bandec) doesn’t give them credit either.
Jorge Velázquez is another of those disappointed by the same case of Rubio. Between him and his brother, Blas, they delivered 36 fattening bulls over 450 kilos. The cattle mass of both grew and they more than complied with the plan. However, it occurred to him to pass three cattle to his brother, who is on the same farm, and both were penalized with the same measure: the prohibition of sacrificing even a single cattle. “Regarding contracting, prices are unstable, the rates of the companies that must help us are very high, late payments are constant and the prices constitute taxes on our products because the contracts are governed by the rules decided by a single person. That’s not a contract,” he protests.
Up to 20 farmers say they have interviewed Newspaper26, which has not found a single story of satisfaction with the vaunted 63 measures that came to boost agriculture and livestock. According to his data, there are more than 13,800 ranchers in Las Tunas and only 256 killed 556 animals. They are also a minority who increased the cattle mass, 764 peasants with about 1,800 heads.
The nonsense with the lands are not minor. The rancher Raúl Escobar was the owner by family inheritance of a large part of the extensions of his neighborhood, Indaya, on the outskirts of Las Tunas. He decided to hand them over, he says “for the benefit of the community”, but now he wants more space to increase his livestock and they don’t give it to him. “And we are talking about one of the measures to boost livestock farming,” he protests.
Yoel Martínez Vargas, delegate of Agriculture in the province, assures that the basis of all the problems is that those who decide do not approach those who produce and asks for speed in the delivery of land. “Not infrequently still, the peasants are behind the managers, when it should be the opposite,” he says. There are more than 50,000 hectares in the province between idle and badly exploited because they were granted without a rigorous study, he indicates. The official calls to give conditions to the ranchers, give them decent housing and revalue their work so that they do not leave.
Another disastrous fact for the province: in Las Tunas, more than 1,200 producers fail to deliver their milk
The report indicates that each farmer owns only 13.42 hectares, which only allows him to have 13 head of cattle, when there is “more than enough” land for him to have the 67 hectares he would need for adequate production.
Another disastrous fact for the province: in Las Tunas, more than 1,200 producers fail to deliver their milk. Although the note adds that “in most cases the reasons are unknown”, the statements of the farmers compiled in the report make it very clear.
Martínez Vargas asks that those who master in detail how the new measures work approach each producer and get involved in the development.
The delegate has taken advantage of the text to reveal a decentralization of the sector in the province: the Comprehensive Agricultural Company disappears and one will be created in each municipality; urban farms will be turned into MSMEs and Puerto Padre will be the first agro-industrial municipality of the Balcón del Oriente Cubano, passing to the local government. In his opinion, this should be good for the sector to make its own decisions and manage its eventual profits.
Yoel Martínez Vargas expresses that “the fundamental cause is poor hiring, because the production plans are not well conceived. Right now there are not a few whose mass is growing and, nevertheless, they cannot sacrifice because the hiring is poorly done “.
The report uses on numerous occasions the words of Vice Prime Minister Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca and his calls to “invigorate thinking and creativity”, which serves as the title of the text. However, those responsible never admit their mistakes and the solutions are once again little more than good wishes.
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