SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico.- The milk dairy products are practically absent from the basic basket in Camagüey, amid the collapse of the dairy industry in that province, where the debt to producers continues to grow.
“There is no justification for going months and months without receiving fluid milk,” said a Camagüeyan cancer patient who is dependent on a medical diet to the local media. Forward.
According to the press, the distribution of milk to sick people has completely disappeared from the official commercial network in the province.
Around 78,908 people with subsistence allowanceaccording to the data from the Offices, to which he had access ForwardThey have not had any liquid milk for months.
Dairy production has fallen considerably in Camagüey, a province that boasted a strong livestock industry.
Dilemmas in stockpiling
René Mola Valera, head of the department of Gathering of the Dairy Company, explained to the official press that five years ago in the spring season, 300,000 liters were collected daily and this August the average was only 161,000.
In addition to the low storage capacity, there are losses of between 30 and 40% of milk due to acidification, mainly due to the lack of electricity to cool it.
Between January and July 2024only 22,124,000 were collected, of an initial plan of 26,311,900 liters.
Although the press blames the ranchers and refers to the fact as a lack of compliance “in something as serious as feeding the people”, the reality is that the State, without the capacity to pay and with debts to the farmers, has created the crisis.
Of the 8,023 registered producers, only 2,685 delivered their quota, and some 1,376 did not deliver milk or cheese.
Many producers are not receiving their payments, not even a part of them. According to the authorities, “alternatives are being sought to alleviate the problem.”
“Depositing payments on magnetic cards hinders the payment of milk by dairy producers, who need cash in a hurry to meet their families’ financial needs,” the text said.
The lack of payment affects both large producers and those with a small herd of cattle. The government’s failure to comply, then, leads farmers to sell milk on the black market to obtain the money they would otherwise not receive.
Already at the beginning of 2024, it was insisted that during the first months of 2024, more than 24% of Camagüey producers did not deliver milk to Acopio.
No milk for children
Camagüey needs to collect around 59,000 liters per day just for children under seven years old and health and education institutions, but the volume continues to decrease.
Last year, the province produced 38 million fewer litres of milk than expected.
Regarding the technical-economic plan of 81,394,900 liters, the province only reached 42,831,000 for a negative balance of more than 38 and a half million liters.
In addition, the information adds that of the 8,581 milk producers who contributed to the Dairy Company’s Acopio in 2022, which dropped to 7,671 in 2023, only 7,448 remain in 2024.
The milk shortage led the regime, for the first time, to request help from the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations Organization, to continue delivering milk to children under seven years of age.
By requesting support from the UN WFP, which defines itself as “the largest humanitarian organization in the world,” the Havana regime tacitly acknowledged that it cannot solve the hunger entrenched by its own measures.
