In contrast, Cubans highlighted the irony of the celebration in a context of shortages and rampant inflation.
LIMA, Peru – In the midst of the serious food insecurity that exists in Cuba, the country’s Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, celebrated this weekend the supposed role of urban agriculture in promoting the culinary and nutritional culture of the population on the Island.
Marrero’s message comes just days after another regime official generated controversy in the official program Cuadrando la Caja, after censoring Cubans’ consumption of rice and potatoes, a habit that he linked to the agricultural debacle.
“Urban, Suburban and Family Agriculture, a program created by Army General Raúl Castro Ruz 38 years ago, constitutes a valuable alternative to bring agricultural production closer to the population. Congratulations to those who make its advancement possible,” wrote the prime minister. via X (formerly Twitter).
The message was also read by Vice Prime Minister Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca during the celebration in Pinar del Río of a national event for the 38th anniversary of the creation of that movement.
Official figures indicate that Urban, Suburban and Family Agriculture today occupies 20,000 hectares in Cuba, including orchards, plots and family patios. At the event, the provinces of Pinar del Río, Artemisa and Sancti Espíritus were declared the most prominent.
According to Tapia Fonseca, this is a movement that “has proven its validity,” adding that large organoponic farms are being recovered on the Island and new plots are emerging that provide food to the communities.
Manuel Marrero’s publication was received with sarcasm and strong criticism on social networkswhere Cubans highlighted the irony of celebrating agriculture in a context of chronic shortages, inflation and deterioration of purchasing power.
“38 years ago Raúl Castro lived drunk morning noon and night, that’s why it hasn’t worked. It’s so that 38 years later the results would be seen and Cubans wouldn’t continue to suffer from shortages with a ration book. Inept,” denounced Internet user Ninoska Pérez.
“For foreigners who read Marrero’s henchman: the Cuban people live in absolute misery. There is no food or electricity. Those photos are propaganda and what this pig is doing is licking the boot of the Castros because he knows that the next one they are going to sacrifice,” wrote Pat López Carrere, another user.
“And if it is a valuable alternative, why hasn’t it worked, since Cuba is a country where its people are hungry? Nothing works for you because you give everything a political touch and communism has never worked anywhere in the world,” highlighted a netizen identified as Felton.
In one of his last interventions in the propaganda program Round Tablethe Minister of Agriculture of Cuba, Ydael Pérez Brito, recognized that in 2024 agricultural production on the Island was in a critical situation, with severe difficulties in the production of basic foods and a drastic drop in several key sectors.
Pérez Brito highlighted the alarming decrease in poultry and pork production. In 2020 “we had eight million chickens, today we have three million. As for breeding pigs, we have gone from having 96,000 to only 26,000,” he stated.
As to egg productionthe situation is even more serious. “We produced between four and five million eggs a day, but currently we produce less than 200,000,” said the minister.
The cultivation of rice, an essential food in the Cuban diet, also faces serious problems. Pérez Brito mentioned that, although the country has the capacity to plant 200,000 hectares, in 2024 only 70,000 hectares will have been cultivated. Furthermore, the deficit in feed production is alarming, since the agricultural system needs between 1,200,000 and 1,500,000 tons annually, but only 200,000 tons had been produced.
The minister also detailed that Cuban agriculture was operating with “less than 10% of the necessary fuel” and that irrigation was reduced to 7% of capacity. In addition, he pointed out that they had not imported fertilizers for years, except for tobacco and potatoes, which significantly affects other crops.
In the absence of official data for 2025 that could be published in the coming year, the food situation shows no signs of improvement, since the effects of the prolonged food crisis and shortages have been exacerbated with each passing month, and its effects are increasingly noticeable by the population of the Island.
