Barely two days had passed since it became known that the authorities devoted 12 times less investment to the agricultural sector than that allocated to business and real estate services, when the country’s highest authorities urged producers to seek “alternative solutions” in the face of lack of of “money to import and dispose of all the resources that the sector requires”.
The Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, did not have the slightest qualms in secretly accusing the workers of the poor results, saying that the effects of the measures put into practice “are poor, in a sector in which only 20% of production is in the hands of the state sector, and the rest is in charge of non-state forms of management”.
The reproach came to light in the annual balance of the Ministry of Agriculture this Thursday in Havana, where the null effects of the famous 63 measures to stimulate agricultural production were shown, although, reluctant to admit it, the leaders alleged, without any proof, that if they had not been approved “the situation would be worse”.
The reproach came to light in the annual balance of the Ministry of Agriculture this Thursday in Havana, where the null effects of the famous 63 measures to stimulate production were shown.
Among the star proposals of that package, announced in April 2021, was the possibility of collecting excess production in foreign currency, a system that has never worked well due to delays and non-payments, something recognized this Thursday at the meeting.
“Non-payments to producers, at the end of December, reached 16,842,385 pesos of late non-payments, showing a downward trend compared to previous periods,” says the newspaper. official of the Communist Party this Friday.
Given the lack of this, one of the greatest stimuli that a producer on the Island can currently count on, it is understood that the results of last 2022 were catastrophic, although the losses did not materialize and the authorities limited themselves to saying that “in most of the productions they did not reach the planned volumes”.
Among the products whose forecasts were met were corn, sorghum, beans and soybeans, they affirm, but the exceptionality is evident, since the same did not occur with complete groups of foods, such as root vegetables, vegetables, citrus fruits and fruit trees, in addition to the essential rice, basic in the daily diet of Cubans.
The detail of animal protein products is bleak, especially when a few days ago the Government mentioned its intention to maintain the goal of reaching a monthly consumption of 5 kilos of these nutrients. Neither bovine meat, nor pork, nor horse meat, nor eggs nor milk reached the projection of the plan. On the other hand, a product that in recent times stands out for the – unique case – of a collapse in its prices did: unhealthy mechanized tobacco.
The detail of animal protein products is devastating, especially when a few days ago the Government mentioned its intention to maintain the goal of reaching a consumption of 5 kilos per month
However, the plans for agricultural tobacco, crooked, black and blonde branch, and total cigars were not fulfilled.
The excess of bureaucracy, and in this there is still no progress despite the fact that the leaders order it as if it did not depend on them, also weighed down the delivery of idle land, which amounts to 258,288 hectares, they admitted.
Granma complete the information with two other notes dedicated to the agricultural sector in its edition this Thursday, a in which the same authorities encourage exploiting “the potential” of the municipalities and self-sufficiency, something that in the conditions of absolute scarcity that the country is experiencing is less than a patch.
The walk of Salvador Valdés, Vice President of the Republic, through the free-range chicken farms – the third note of the agricultural deployment in the press this Friday – stating that they can help to substitute imports. The egg from these animals, with higher nutritional value and high price in rich countries, is a small luxury compared to that of farm chicken, whose advantage is the massiveness that a hungry country, precisely, needs.
The president urged, as if that were not enough, to “go over all limitations” and asked the companies to “catch up” with the debts to the producers, since “it is not possible – he said – to stimulate production if they it owes to the producer,” he added, avoiding any responsibility despite being the second highest authority in the country.
The president urged, as if that were not enough, to “go over all limitations” and asked the companies to “catch up” with the debts to the producers
Both the informative emphasis and the urgency to produce more contrast with the money invested and the decisions at the highest level to prioritize in practice, and not in theory, the agricultural and food sector, by extension. Although the Cuban economist resident in Spain Elías Amor believes that the concern exists despite appearances, although nobody wants to make the necessary decisions.
“There is more despair with agricultural production than it seems. Behind inflation and closely related to this problem, Cubans complain about the lack of food at the beginning of 2023 and the prices that the products reach. Production agriculture does not raise its head and the communist recipes are useless. You have to think about making a 180º turn and starting over. The longer it takes, the worse it will be”, said on his blog Cubaeconomy.
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