Leonardo Martínez López, GAG director of Industries and Marketing, commented on the effort in a meeting with the press revisiting the process that gave life to the 200-some processing facilities for fruit and vegetables, grains, meat and other products, existing today in the country.

Of this total, the 120 mini-plants that handle fruit and vegetables processed 1,387 tons of tomato, during the spring season, and work is advancing with mango, pineapple and guava, which began in May and should be completed in September, he reported.

With a processing capacity of 35,000 tons annually, representing 18% of the agro industrial capacity of the entire GAG system, these mini-industries focus on supplying the local market with jam, juice, coconut, guava and grapefruit sweets, dressings, marinades, spices and condiments, among other products.

Based on the management and integration model developed by the Ceballos Agro industrial Enterprise, which includes the large central plant, 21 mini-industries affiliated with agricultural cooperatives, basic enterprise units (UEB), collaboration projects and other partners, positive results have been achieved as the model is extended to other agro industrial poles, Martínez explained.

Martínez pointed out that Ceballos not only has agricultural strength, but is also a powerful industry, in which 21 million dollars have been injected for development. In addition, most of its affiliated mini-processing plants have been certified for safe food handling and good production practices, while the central facility supports them by providing laboratory, branding and marketing services.

This is how, he reiterated, we have been able to make progress, to the extent possible, supporting other important companies, including the Victoria de Girón, in Jagüey Grande, in the province of Matanzas, which has adopted this production model. The intention has been to link large facilities with smaller ones, although the goal has not been fully achieved, due to both objective and subjective factors, he stated.

The objective is to make better use of available capacity, as well as maintenance services, metrology, laboratories and quality/safety certification, the use of brands, and access to all existing markets inside and outside the country.

Another challenge being addressed, Martínez noted, is the acquisition of technologies that allow for the use of the diverse kinds of packaging available, both Cuban made and imported. In the case of small plants, along with the food processing industry, we have widely introduced, for example, the use of glass bottles, he reported.

Despite the many difficulties that persist and the goals that remain to be met, the executive acknowledged that mini-plants are proving their value in the current context, as a fundamental link providing the agro-industrial balance and flexibility needed by all productive systems; since they are capable of processing small quantities of produce that a large plant cannot efficiently assume, and have the workers needed to make the most of raw material when it is available.

(Taken from Granma)

Diaz-Canel is also verifying the implementation of health measures, the development of food production and the achievements in the execution of the Monetary Overhaul that started on January 1, 2021.

Villa Clara is in the limited autochthonous transmission phase and reports a Covid-19 contagion rate of 33.99 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest in the country.

More than 70 patients were admitted at the Commander Manuel Fajardo and Celestino Hernandez hospitals, both in the city of Santa Clara, and the provincial Molecular Microbiology Laboratory has processed more than 1,000 PCR tests in real time every day.

(Taken from Prensa Latina)

The director of the economically critical program, Dr. Elizabeth Peña Turruellas, shared with Granma the main findings gathered during the national leadership group’s 87th tour of the country’s provinces, conducted between October 13 through December 22, last year.

Municipalities with the most progress, scoring 95% on the evaluation rubric:

-Viñales

-Minas de Matahambre

-Sancti Spíritus

-Consolación del Sur

-Los Palacios

-Bayamo

-Puerto Padre

-Cerro

-Habana Vieja

-Boyeros

-Segundo Frente

-Güira de Melena

Fundamental elements evaluated during the tour

1. Production of green vegetables in the different modalities. Visits to all organic community gardens.

2. Production of medicinal plants.

3. Dedication of yards and small plots to food production.

4. Self-sufficiency on the community level.

5. Implementation of the National Food Sovereignty and Nutritional Education Plan at the municipal level.

Delivery of medicinal plants to pharmaceutical industry

-111% of planned volume delivered by the end of November

-674.2 tons delivered (608.7 projected)

-Commitments not met in Mayabeque and the Isle of Youth

-Commitment to deliver specific items not met in several provinces, in particular

Mayabeque, Cienfuegos and the Isle of Youth.

Green vegetables

9 ,416 hectares of green vegetables planted nationally

8.4 m2 per capita devoted to this type of produce

Ten or more square meters per capita planted

-Artemisa (13.3 m2)

-Santiago de Cuba (10.1 m2)

-Guantánamo (12,.1 m2)

-Holguín (10 m2)

*Some 40,000 planted beds were damaged by rain associated with Tropical Storm Eta, limiting completion of plans to 99%, with 1,155,413 tons harvested. Noted on the tour were immediate efforts to recover these losses, with all damaged beds re-planted, allowing projections for 2020 to be met.

Seed production

-Progress was observed, nonetheless, deficiencies were noted in the evaluations of 21 farms

-One farm was evaluated as poor, in the municipality of Martí, in the province of Matanzas.

-Farms evaluated as acceptable in the following municipalities:

-Alquízar

-Bahía Honda

-Artemisa

-San Nicolás de Bari

-Bejucal

-Melena del Sur

-Pedro Betancourt

-Cifuentes

-Sagua la Grande

-Cienfuegos

-Palmira

-Chambas

-Santa Cruz del Sur

-Guáimaro

-Frank País

-Rafael- Freyre

-Río Cauto

-Santiago de Cuba

-Guantánamo

-Yateras

Municipality evaluated as acceptable

-Niceto Pérez

Municipality with the most problems

-Isle of Youth Special Municipality

*A special tour was conducted on the Isle of Youth, including visits to 10 People’s Councils, with deficiencies noted at 70% of sites. Problems were observed in the production and use of organic compost; the cultivation of medicinal plants; the management of suburban farms; the planting of animal fodder; and ecological management of pests, among other shortcomings, as well as inadequate attention to the workforce at the Urban Farm UEB.

Family yards and plots linked to the program

Playing an outstanding role in this work are the Federation of Cuban Women and Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, as well as organizations like the Young Communists League, the Veteran Combatants Association, the National Association of Small Farmers, the Federation of Cuban Workers, and the Association of Cuban Agricultural and Forestry Technicians, helping to catalyze greater food production at this level.

Most outstanding provinces:

107,000 yards and plots in Havana

72,000 yards in Las Tunas

71,000 yards in Santiago de Cuba

61,000 yards in Camagüey

60,000 yards in Matanzas

Organic compost

Insufficient use and presence of micro compost production centers were observed, as well as low fertility of soils and substrate at community gardens, caused fundamentally by limited availability of transportation for the delivery of compost, implying the need for greater use of animal-powered means. Through November 317,207 tons of organic compost had been applied to soils, representing only 37% of the demand at this level.

Training

In all of the country’s municipalities, one community was selected for special training with the participation of the city Superintendent and presidents of People’s Councils, Ministry of Agriculture representatives, leaders of mass and political organizations, as well as residents, with the goal of reaching greater self-sufficiency in meeting the community’s nutritional needs, by supplying 30 pounds of produce per capita every month, to include root vegetables, green vegetables, fruit, and grains, plus five kilos of small livestock meat. A total of 1,800 persons participated.

Another training and discussion program took place in all provinces and the Isle of Youth Special Municipality focused on implementation of the National Food Sovereignty and Nutritional Education Plan at the municipal level. Some 4,000 people participated, from different bodies, mass and political organizations involved in Locally Sovereign and Sustainable Food Systems.

(Taken from Granma)

While her son Ciro Verdecia displays his degree in Medicine in the improvised office, he has another doctorate in getting back to the land, with which he influenced his mother, proposing the purchase of 500 chicks that were raised on the roof of their house, in the middle of the special period, helping to sustain the family. She recruited everyone to the task, like a Mariana of those times.

From what was then a little more than one hectare received in usufruct, today the farm includes the 44 that President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez visited during his most recent visit to the province, when he admired what has been accomplished, saying the farm is an example of a local development program worthy of being generalized across the nation.

Aida Dolz spoke with Granma about the meeting, saying that it strengthened her love and gratitude for the Revolution, while her son Ciro Verdecia, who accompanied the President, said that the visit was a dream come true, since he is deeply convinced of the value of their work and that agricultural producers can count on the country’s leadership.

“I had always wished,” he said, “that he and Raul would see what we do as a contribution to the Revolution, and we really did not know if it would happen. It was like a miracle we had prayed for, shouted for, and then I wondered what do I say? But as soon as I had him in front of me, with his kindness and simplicity, it was like a conversation between old acquaintances.”

As the Cuban President learned, the farm is distinguished by a complete productive system, functioning within efficient programs that operate together, but the lead product, given its magnitude, is pork, followed closely by poultry, rabbit and the fattening of bulls, plus the cultivation of human food, high-protein plant fodder for animals, and medicinal plants.

For the thousand tons of high quality pork meat they are committed to producing annually, they have capacity in bays for 4,500 piglets and the possibility of carrying out 2.2 productive cycles, with a first delivery made through the selection of animals that, after only four months, grow from 100 to 110 kilograms of weight, and are immediately replaced.

Discipline and rigor in handling are essential to the care of his 365 animals, says the head of this area, Alexiuber Barroso Barroso, the only way to take full advantage of the feed plan being used, which includes vitamins, minerals, honey, soy and fodder based on banana poplar, plantain foliage, moringa, mulberry and tithonia.

Regarding chicken breeding, which began with a stock of 500 chickens, now reaching 15,000, Ciro Verdecia says this is currently the principal program under development at “La Fortaleza,” with the construction of two new bays to increase installed capacity to 20,000 birds, using modern technology that allows for five production cycles per year.

Based on the effective use of a bank loan, the poultry bays are equipped with nebulizers and fans that cool the ambient temperature, LED lamps that provide optimal lighting, automated feeders and water sippers, rigorous hygiene, and means of protection in the event of bad weather, which together counteract stress among the birds.

This meat is destined for sale to the state wholesaler, as are other productions, and the introduction of a closed cycle system is planned for next year, including all stages of production from the egg, through incubation, fattening of the bird, slaughter, packing and freezing of the product, all onsite, with quality assured technologically and assigned personnel fully trained.

Confident that rabbit breeding can contribute to the country’s food sovereignty, Verdecia reported that “La Fortaleza” currently has 400 reproducers and supplied four tons of meat this year. Additionally, incorporated just a few months ago was semi-stabled bull fattening, in a bay with capacity for 120 heads of cattle, fed a diet which includes high-protein plant fodder.

“Everything,” said Ciro Verdecia, “has been achieved in the interest of supporting the country’s priorities, and when you start from scratch nothing is easy, mistakes are made, and the best thing you can do is to work hard, so that when you turn to those with better experiences, to science and technology institutions, they are confident that their cooperation will not be in vain.”

On the basis of this premise, the farm’s 123 permanent workers and some 20 part-time, mostly from the area, share with others the technology and agro-ecological practices implemented here, the organizational culture, the agro-ecological techniques and their defense of the environment through the use and adequate management of waste, reforestation and drainage systems.

Similarly, agreements established with the Universidad de Oriente and scientific institutions affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture, cooperate in projects for the generation of renewable energy, water recycling, studies of soils, development of hybrid varieties, production of biofertilizers, and use of as much advanced technology as possible.

Verdecia insisted, “We are open to exchanges with state agencies and other producers around all these issues. That’s what we told compañero Díaz-Canel when he said that our little piece of land was also the country, and we told him to count on us for any task he wanted to assign us, no matter how complex.”

“To hear him say that applying our experience can contribute to finding solutions more quickly, attacking the problems piece by piece, is express recognition of the contribution made by producers who, in our case, following this wonderful visit, feel even more committed to continue providing food for the people.”

THE PRESIDENT’S RECOMMENDATIONS

This is experience that must be applied immediately. When one sees the wisdom, sees what has been done on this farm over many years of work, the gains they have made with very focused thinking on how to manage the land and take advantage of it in the most efficient way, the first thing one asks is: OK, if we have experience in doing things well, why aren’t we rapidly generalizing this experience?

This is an example of organizational culture, of management, innovation. They have links with the University (of Oriente), with almost all the country’s agricultural sciences centers. Everyone has been there, and they have set up innovation projects with almost all of them.

The things that have been criticized in other places work well here (at the farm). They have been able to use Cuban financed bank credit. There is no international cooperation project here, no. They have achieved the same things that we have seen in other projects that involve international cooperation.

This is a local development project; there is technology development; there is work on one of the country’s priorities; there is employment for the people in the area; there is sustainable development, because they have a culture of sustainability that promotes caring for the environment.

This is a local productive system that has generated employment opportunities for hundreds and thousands of people who have a development perspective in their lives, and their life projects coincide with those of this development program.

They produce a thousand tons of pork a year, 230 tons of chicken and other meats including rabbit. Let’s stop to consider the pork. We are going for around 200,000 tons in the country. With 200 producers like these, we can solve the country’s problem. Let’s go for more, let’s double that, with 400 pork producers like these, the country’s problems can be solved. So what do we have to do now? Identify how we can find the 400 producers in the country who have this potential.

We must do this with pork, with poultry, in each of the lines, with those who produce various crops, and we are going to calculate the proportions, and ensure that everyone contributes more. This is breaking the problem down into small pieces, and learning how we can achieve better results, in a more efficient manner.

(Taken from Granma)

A 1,500 ml bottle of Tukola soda produced by Los Portales costs 1.50 CUC in stores that operate in that currency. When this price is calculated according to the current exchange rate (1 CUC = 25.00 CUP), it becomes 37.50 CUP. However, this same product costs 25.00 CUP in some retail stores affiliated with the Ministry of Domestic Commerce. The same applies to this product in can format and to other merchandise that would make up an endless list.

These differences, which have been a constant source of concern within the population, reflect the profound distortions with which the economy has operated for several years. Distortions that derived, in good measure, from the dual currency and, especially, different exchange rates.

For this reason, unification, although definitely no magic wand in appearance or behavior, should contribute to homogenizing current methods of price formation and eliminating distortions that affect both internal and external commerce, and the enterprise system.

According to Margarita de la Caridad Acosta Rodríguez MSc, price policy director at the Ministry of Finance and Prices (MFP), Cuba has traveled a long route before reaching today’s distortions, dating back to the 1990s, when it became necessary to establish the monetary duality and adopt financial reorganization measures including price increases for nonessential products and an end to the provision of some goods and services free of charge.

It was not until 2003 that the Cuban convertible peso (CUC) was introduced in the relations between organizations and in the formation of wholesale prices, as a way of recognizing the imported component of productions and services, she recalls.

In 2004, stores designed to capture hard currency, began to charge in CUC and, one year later, retail prices in CUC of high demand products were frozen, she adds.

Since then, many measures have been implemented to attempt to correct the deformations emerging in the economic price category, one of the most complex and controversial because it has special links to wage, fiscal and trade policies.

In the opinion of Acosta Rodríguez, of special importance were measures taken in 2016 to increase the purchasing power of the Cuban peso, which included the reduction of prices for an important number of food, personal hygiene and cleaning items sold in CUC.

The prices of certain agricultural products were capped as well and, in June of 2019, it was established that there would be no increase in wholesale and retail prices, to avoid counteracting the positive impact of salary raises in the budgeted sector and increased pensions.

In summary, the economy has operated in an environment of a dual currency with a different exchange rate for two different arenas:

In relations between enterprises and in the wholesale market, used is the exchange rate of 1 USD = 1 CUC = 1 CUP.

In relations within the population and retail commerce, used is the exchange rate of 1 CUC = 25 CUP.

At the same time, the U.S. economic blockade has been aggressively escalated and the severe material and financial restrictions it causes remain in place. In addition, reducing the country’s dependence on imports has not been possible, despite attempts made. Cuba has not been able to escape the effects of the economic crisis and consequent price increases in foreign markets.

We must also take into consideration the mandates included in key documents approved at the Sixth and Seventh Congresses of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), to review and comprehensively overhaul the price system, Acosta Rodríguez adds.

These documents provide the foundation for the diagnosis conducted, including factors that influence the system’s performance, aspects linked to accounting and supervision, as well as the identification of economic distortions that are expressed in prices.

Today, in general terms, the specialist explains, prices do not reflect the behavior of the market, due to the disconnection between wholesale and retail prices, which responds to the existence of subsidies and the intention of capturing hard currency via pricing of various products.

Perhaps the most “costly” distortion, economically speaking, is associated with the current exchange rate for relations between enterprises (1 USD = 1 CUC = 1 CUP). According to the MFP directive, “This prevents prices from serving as an objective measure of economic facts and discourages exports and the replacement of purchases abroad, based on distortions in the calculation of costs and expenses.”

In other words, with the 1 x 1 exchange rate for relations between enterprises, in general, the price of the imported product is lower than the price of a domestic one, which is totally contradictory and accentuates the tendency to import, undermining competitiveness and creativity.

In the words of Acosta Rodríguez, “Most of the productions, whether substitutes for imports or destined for export, receive significant subsidies or have implicit subsidies which are covered by the prices of other goods and services. However, there are wholesale prices that contain other converters, which are not at the 1 x 1 exchange rate.”

Evidently, the expert goes on, the context of monetary and exchange duality has limited the flexibility of price and tariff formation, which, for the most part, has been isolated from foreign market prices.

Such procedures, she adds, have been based on methods of expenditure, which have led to the concealment of inefficiency and their cost transferred to the economy, made invisible by both structural and technological issues, difficulties in accounting records, the non-implementation of cost systems and other irregularities.

Another notable distortion is the sale of the same products at different wholesale prices, mainly due to the existence of a market in CUC and another in CUP. The same product is usually sold:

1. To state entities, at a price that contains components in both CUP and CUC.

2. To joint ventures, at a price that considers the total amount in CUC.

3. To retail chains and the tourism industry, at a price that includes the CUC component in most national products, while financing the industry for the difference in CUP.

Taking into account these deformations, the MFP directive recognizes that prices do not always cover all expenses incurred. To this should be added the approval of incentives paid in CUC to workers in various sectors.

Likewise, conversion rates other than 1 x 1 have been applied on an experimental basis to support the wages of workers in priority areas, as mechanisms to stimulate the workforce, an expense which is not considered in setting prices. Such is the case in:

-Foreign investment projects

-The Mariel Special Development Zone

-Construction of prioritized works

In all these cases, the formation of prices at the 1 x 1 rate is recognized; although this unquestionably implies an added burden for the state budget, which finances the difference at the approved conversion rate, she emphasizes.

The specialist also refers to the different approaches in the formation of prices for the state sector and the non-state sector and, in turn, emphasizes the disconnection between wholesale prices and those the population pays. Today, producers do not receive the majority of the final price, she adds.

Similarly, not to be overlooked is the high level of subsidy reflected in the retail prices of products that make up the regulated family basket of foodstuffs, including rice, beans, sugar, chicken and other regulated meat products, as well as basic services such as electricity, gas, water and basic telephone services.

The provision of subsidies to specific persons is still very limited, and issues identified in programmatic documents that support the updating of the economic model have not been addressed.

Acosta Rodríguez believes that other structural problems also affect price setting, such as the existence of many levels of circulation of goods prior to their final destination.

Although the approval of wholesale prices has been decentralized, the authority granted enterprises remains insufficient, in her opinion.

Meanwhile, many retail prices are still established centrally and little power has been granted to municipal authorities to adjust these.

All of this also contributes to shortcomings in complying with the constitutional principle of local autonomy.

The lack of qualified personnel in the area of prices, insufficient control and inspection work, gaps in training, and the lack of systemic public information work on the setting and approval of prices are all aggravating factors, which are equally relevant when analyzing any deviation.

Prices currently express the behavior of the economy with all its irregularities, the head of price policy at the MFP reiterates.

In her opinion, the lack of flexibility in both methods of price setting and the authority to approve prices at different levels of the enterprise structure, has limited autonomy in establishing prices. The consequences have become Gordian knots for the economy and translate into delays and low levels of efficiency and competiveness of national products and services.

Furthermore, through July of 2019, when regulations limiting price increases were established, there was a strong tendency among enterprises to raise the category of their products to gain more earnings and increase pay-for-performance bonuses, which introduced a new distortion.

To assess the impact of retail price distortions on domestic commerce, it is essential to take into account the way the market is segmented: one regulated in CUP, one in CUP and CUC and, recently, one in freely convertible currency (MLC).

As for the regulated market, Yosvany Pupo Otero, general director of Services at the Ministry of Domestic Trade (MINCIN), recalls that in 1962, Law no. 1015 established the system of rationed supply of everyday consumer goods, the “libreta” that continues to live on.

He likewise noted the level to which the determination of prices in Cuba is concentrated, considering that among the substantive elements in this economic category involves who approves them and how they are set.

Today, Pupo Otero states, the approval of retail prices for products and services essential to the population is the responsibility of the Council of Ministers’ Executive Committee and the Ministry of Finance and Prices, with a view toward supporting social policies and basic needs.

Meanwhile, the determination of the value of another group of products and services is the responsibility of the Ministry of Domestic Commerce; the Wholesale Food and Consumer Goods Enterprise Group; the Industrial Products and Services Distribution Group; as well as the administration board in all provinces and the Isle of Youth special municipality.

As is known, the regulated market includes, basically, the family basket of foodstuffs, through which a group of products is made available to all at subsidized prices. In other words, for these products the population pays a price that is far below the real cost, and the difference is assumed by the state budget.

Similarly, other products sold at subsidized prices include items in special diets for some 11,817 children, and those for some 1,360,332 adults with health problems, Pupo Otero adds.

Subsidies are also reflected in retail process via programs to distribute non-food products to meet specific needs such as:

-Layette for newborns: textile module, mattress and cradle.

-A module for bed-ridden and incontinent patients composed of antiseptic fabric, towel, sanitary rubber and soaps. In this program, the payment is assumed by the state.

-School uniforms for students in primary, secondary, pre-university and poly-technical vocational schools. An annual average of 3.8 million uniforms are sold at subsidized prices, ranging from 2.00 to 9.80 CUP.

-Prophylactic footwear: sold by prescription, according to the distribution policy.

According to the Pupo Otero, these programs function on the basis of a few fundamental principles:

-Consumers can acquire these products only in assigned establishments.

-The purchase is noted in the ration book (in the case of the regulated family food basket) and according to established procedures for other programs.

-Sales are made on a fixed per capita basis, according to the distribution policy approved each year.

-The distribution is cyclical (monthly, twice-yearly, annual).

Regarding the setting of prices in the unregulated CUP market, Yosvany Pupo explains that a component in CUC is recognized as a rule for raw materials and imported materials, and a component in CUP.

To support understanding of these technicalities, he takes as a reference the construction materials program, in which several methods of price setting coexist.

On the one hand, products are sold at unsubsidized prices in some cases, in which the CUC component is considered at the 1 CUC = 25 CUP exchange rate and the CUP component of the wholesale price is recognized.

In the case of products that contribute to water saving and housing programs, the price setting algorithm is different and lower conversion rates are used, which affects enterprise earnings.

And, finally, this same program annually guarantees the requirements for basic housing units, in other words, subsidies for constructive work, reflecting the direction that the economy must take sooner rather than later: subsidizing people rather than products.

Pupo Otero cited a few other examples to illustrate the multiple existing distortions.

These include the most economical and subsidized prices applied in Attention to the Family (SAF) and school snack programs, both activities run by municipal food service enterprises.

In the first, meals with established nutritional requirements are sold at a price of 1.00 CUP, to benefit more than 76,000 individuals, more than 11,000 of whom receive social assistance. However, once again, the real cost of the product is higher, which affects the financial performance of these companies.

Regarding the school lunch program, the distortions are even more acute, since students and teachers’ lunches are provided free of charge, in a network of more than 774 schools, with 138,851 students and 30,984 workers.

In Havana, nonetheless, the experience of including the price of the snack in the teachers’ salaries has been favorably received since this allows them to make their own choices and pay with their earnings. More than the exception, this practice should be the rule in a future scenario of monetary and exchange rate unification.

As Margarita de la Caridad Acosta Rodríguez, director of Price Policy at the MFP, has already noted, undoubtedly, “The transformations foreseen regarding prices must be accompanied by other changes in strategic sectors, in commerce, wage and fiscal policies that, in a gradual, comprehensive manner, allow for important advances in the economic and social life of our nation.”

BASIC CONCEPTS:

PRICE: Monetary expression of the value of goods and products. In practice, prices are associated with the value of products and fees for services. When we talk about prices, service fees are also included.

PRICE SYSTEM: The interlinked set of different types of prices, including legal frameworks, regulations, entities and other actors involved in the setting, approval and application of prices, as well as the population, who as consumers, are a very important and dynamic part of the system.

PRICES CAN BE:

Wholesale: Paid by legal persons.

Agricultural: Paid by wholesalers to agricultural producers.

Retail: Paid by the population, including fees for services.

MONETARY REORDERING WILL INCLUDE:

-The minimum salary will be based on the cost of a basket of essential goods and services, respecting the principle of covering the needs of the worker and his/her family.

-Subsidies will be for persons, not articles or services. Insolvency requests will be addressed within 48 hours.

-In the first stages of monetary and exchange unification, the total subsidies for specific products for children from 0 to 6 years of age in Cuba will be maintained.

-Medicines for the treatment of chronic diseases will be subsidized.

-Some of the 42 products with centralized prices include yogurt, processed cheese, mortadella, pasta, sausage, fuel, electricity, water, cement, sugar, coffee, ground meat, compotes and milk.

-Enterprises will set other prices, but within limits.

-A salary increase has been designed to allow workers to pay the new prices when that day comes.

-A strategy has been planned to invest in companies with losses, to avoid closures, unemployment, and the deterioration of services to the population.

(Taken from Granma)

Presiding a review of agricultural programs being implemented in the province, Machado Ventura insisted on optimum use of all resources, to ensure savings, rationality, efficiency, and finding solutions to difficulties, while noting that whatever is valid now is here to stay, even when times of prosperity return.

He gave as an example the increasing use of biological means to control pests and diseases, and of local resources to replace chemical fertilizers, already standard practice for more than a few campesinos.

The province is committed to growing most of the tobacco produced in the nation, an important source of foreign exchange, as well as continuing to increase production and quality, but it is necessary to do so with higher yields, he noted, as a way of freeing fertile land for food production.

Vice President of the Republic Salvador Valdés Mesa, also in attendance, recalled that, in the strategy approved by the Council of Ministers to confront the effects of the pandemic, food production is cited as the first priority. He emphasized the importance of replacing imports that the country is unable to finance, and referred to measures being implemented to give producers more autonomy in the acquisition of resources, the elimination of unpaid debts, and greater access to credit.

(Taken from Granma)

This is the news reported to Granma by Vivian Herrera, General Director of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment (Mincex), who emphasized the commitment of 37 state enterprises authorized to conduct this activity, as well as other entities and organizations involved, in the interest of offering new opportunities for the export and import of goods and services by the non-state sector.

Of the 1,056 letters of intention we have received, she said, 732 are from self-employed producers, 119 non-agricultural cooperatives and 205 private workers, including independent farmers, artists, writers and other intellectuals.

She reported that five contracts for export activities have been concluded. The first, she recalled, was signed by the non-agricultural cooperative La Concordia, from Matanzas, and recently, through the Empresa de Frutas Selectas, private farmers have also begun to export Persian lime and avocado to Spain.

In the final stages of negotiation are another 71 export contracts for a variety of products including charcoal, fruit, fresh and canned vegetables, natural chemicals, sustainably managed timber, honey soap, computer services and software, among others.

“In the case of imports, 35 trade agreements were signed and another 159 are in the process of revision, focused mainly on the acquisition of raw materials such as pesticides, fertilizers, chemicals, automotive spare parts, paints and graphic supplies.”

In terms of the principal concerns noted during the process of launching these new commercial relations, she cited the guarantee that non-state economic actors have to access the hard currency generated by their export activity upon request.

Regarding this issue, Lourdes Aintzane Delgado, head of the Central Bank of Cuba’s Systems Development Department, explained that for individuals there is no prohibition on withdrawing funds from their accounts in freely convertible currency, although this does depend on availability of the currency requested in the particular bank branch, at the time of the operation.

Another frequently asked question concerns the mechanisms established that allow non-state forms of management to obtain foreign currency and conduct import and/or export operations.

According to the Central Bank’s Resolution 112/20, she noted, income is received through bank transfers to other freely convertible currency accounts in Cuban banks, as long as the funds come from commercial activity and legally authorized services, transfers from Fincimex for remittances, or through cash deposits.

In the case of commercial activities involving exports, she indicated, individuals can open a bank account without an initial deposit, at least during the first six months, to facilitate the start-up of their operations.

The ministry’s General Director of Foreign Trade clarified that the import services provided by Cuban entities authorized to support the non-state sector do not limit imports by individuals, as long as the goods are of a non-commercial nature. This activity, she said, will continue to be carried out through the usual channels, that is, by travelers or via shipments, with the payment of customs duties as established for these types of imports.

(Taken from Granma)

Lázaro Rafael Fundora Hernández made his first export of lemons to Spain recently. Photo: Courtesy of the interviewee.

Lázaro Rafael Fundora Hernández is a man who does not believe in luck. Making his first export of lemons to Spain and directing the sale of avocados abroad has been the result of many years of perseverance. “What we achieved was a family endeavor, we proposed them and we achieved it,” he says without stopping the movement of the mincer over the lands where he was born.

After two years of efforts to place its products outside the borders, the new legal regulations that allow non-state businesses to access the international market, opened the doors to an old desire.

“As a producer, I had been trying for a couple of years because I have always believed that the future of development in this country is based on exports. This is the most effective way to collect foreign currency that helps us to buy what we need ”, he says.

In the middle of the guardrail and under the overcast sky that predicts water, this farmer confesses that despite multiple efforts, until now he had not had that possibility , since there were always difficulties in receiving payment.

“We did not have the way to obtain the profits because the Credit and Service Cooperatives do not manage accounts in foreign currency. Now new resolutions like 315 have come out, where we have legal protection to do so ”.

Heir to a family tradition that dates back to his grandparents, Fundora Hernández recognizes the challenge of having exportable quality products , a fact that does not worry him despite the difficulties he faces in achieving it.

“We compete in a very demanding market, where hygiene and presence are above all ensured. We must also bear in mind that we are inserting ourselves in a consolidated niche, and we must understand its logic to be competitive ”.

There are several requirements to be able to export the fruits to the European country.

There are several requirements to be able to export the fruits to the European country.

Good color, juiciness, size and being free of scratches and pests are some of the basic requirements demanded by the client. Demands that this landowner and his family meet to the letter. “It is a challenge given our scarce technology and Cuba’s poor agricultural development. The secret is to put all the effort to the earth ”.

Thanks to that consecration, Lazaro already put 1.08 tons of Persian lime or lemon on the Old Continent.

After touring part of the three caballerias that make up the La Esperanza farm , this producer confirms that to achieve exportable products not only requires good will, but also requires advice and scientific certification.

“The first thing was to certify the phytosanitary conditions since there cannot be pests that pose a threat to the outside world. We set traps and the samples were taken to the laboratory so that everything was in order. It was followed for two years because there are pests that are seasonal, ”he says.

With this important step overdue, he went in search of the exporting company. His hortened path was due to the fact that for years it had contractual ties with the Frutas Selectas Company, enabled for these tasks.

The next order will be the sale of avocados.

“I already had a stable working relationship because I was selected to market tourism products some time ago. We only had to inquire about potential clients and update the contracts ”.

In Lázaro Rafael’s opinion, receiving the advice of the Cuban company was not a deterrent. The entity’s expertise allowed it, among other things, to have support for the transportation of products, at a time when COVID-19 hinders any international movement.

For the Mayan peasant, this is only the first step. The lands of the Madruga municipality will also see the demand for mango and purple cherimoya multiply , very desirable products for the Italian and Canadian counterparts who await the arrival of pulp, pieces or other preparations from the Greater Antilles.

“We have made the maximum effort to achieve the export, even to reach the airspaces. Fruits have a limited life and therefore there can be no delays in transportation and with the closings of the COVID it has been complex ”, acknowledges Fundora showing the correct sealing of one of the boxes full of avocado.

The next order will be the sale of avocados.

“My goals were always to work for the sale abroad and thus acquire supplies and equipment to improve the production of the farm. We are clear that Cuba cannot supply these necessary implements for each peasant and that is why each one must do everything possible to be more self-sufficient in this regard, “he warned.

Aware of the deficit of lemon and other citrus fruits in the country, he reveals that it is not a contradiction at all to export them abroad. “If we want to improve the harvests here, we have to find currency to replenish ourselves. Lime is a rare product in Cuba and difficult to achieve and that is a challenge for me. Anyone can achieve the easy, the difficult only those who propose it ”.

This is how the project of this farmer who is involved in taking his fruit to Europe advances. While the products of the La Esperanza farm are already displayed on the shelves of the stores in Spain, Lázaro looks at the earth and sees the dream come true of his grandfather, a man who taught him that great works are not carried out by the strength, but by perseverance.

(By: Oscar Figueredo Reinaldo)

After the approval, in 2017, of the Fisheries Policy, in correspondence with the transformations experienced in this area, and as part of the implementation of the country’s Economic and Social Policy Guidelines, it was essential to update the current legal framework and adjust it to the times.

Hence, the proposed law to “order fishery resources under the principles of conservation, sustainable use, a preventive approach, implementation of scientific-technological criteria, and protection of ecosystems, in line with national and international standards and food security and sovereignty precepts.”

According to the grounds of the draft bill, there are several political, economic, and social premises that support this regulation, which stemmed from a Council of Ministers proposal.

Noted is, for example, that the core current regulation in this field, Decree-law No. 164, Fisheries Regulation, 1996, “is obsolete in the face of current conditions, and insufficient for confronting illegal fishing and preserving fishery resources.”

As for the economic impact of the activity, telling data are provided.
IN CONTEXT:

- Annual per capita fish consumption reduced from 16kg in 1989, to 4.3kg in 2014.

- In the last five years, the 54 species that were fished have decreased by 44%. – Catches have fallen by 70% and imports of fish averaged 8,000 tons.

- Lobster and shrimp contribute $63 million dollars annually in exports, and catches have been reduced by 65 and 90% in the last five years,

- Fishery resources are used by 3,376 state commercial fishers and 245 self-consumption fishers.

- Some 18,638 people carry out private commercial fishing, and another 17,600 are recreational fishers.

- 2,329 fishers are linked to aquaculture.

- 10,843 workers are indirectly linked to state fishing.

- It is estimated that a thousand naval craft and some 2,500 people engage in illegal fishing.

- Added to this is the legal limbo in which the non-state sector associated with this activity has been to date. “The relationship with this management mode is limited to sales contracts. Private commercial fishers do not have a defined employment status, and are not linked to any social security regimen.”

- Nor can the complex socio-economic situation present in the 168 identified fishing communities be ignored. “In several, fishing activity is the main source of livelihood and there are few employment alternatives in other sectors.”
WITHIN THE DRAFT BILL

The proposed law is structured into chapters and sections and consists of 27 articles and seven final provisions. The “umbrella” objective focuses on the establishment of “regulations for the proper ordering, administration, and control of fishing, on the basis of the conservation and rational use of hydrobiological resources in sea, river, and lake waters of Cuba, in order to contribute to the food sovereignty of the nation.”

Hence emerge other more specific pronouncements that complement the scope of the regulations:

- Institute fishery resources management principles.

- Establish regulations on fishing authorizations (licenses, concessions and permits) as an organizational measure.

- Define the modalities of state and non-state commercial fishing, sports, recreational and research activities.

- Provide the bases for the operation of the consultative body on fisheries management.

- Create coordination mechanisms among Central State Administration agencies involved in this activity.

SPECIFICATIONS AND OTHER DETAILS

According to the proposed bill, “fishing can only be carried out by Cuban or foreign individuals or legal entities that possess the corresponding authorization for such purposes.” Excluded from this requirement is fishing that is practiced freely by national or foreign individuals from the coast or natural shores, using rods or reels, ropes and hooks, without the aid of water craft.

Regarding fishing authorizations, the proposed law specifies that “they are issued through licenses, concessions and permits, by the competent authority, based on previous state assessment of resources.” The holder is authorized to carry out a certain fishing activity under the conditions and requirements established for that purpose.

“The request to grant, renew, modify, and cancel any type of authorization is processed before the competent authority by the Minister of Food Industry (Minal),” and it is “an indispensable requirement, in the case of individuals, that the applicant be at least 17 years of age.”

As has already been stated, the bill dedicates a good part of its content to the definition, according to its purpose, of different fishing modalities:

- Sports

- Recreational

- Research

- Commercial (state, non-state, for social self-consumption, with purposes other than human consumption, for example, the capture of aquatic organisms for handicrafts, public exhibitions, the extraction of chemical substances and other purposes).

The draft bill also stipulates that “the requirements for undertaking fishing and the use of approved methods and tackle, as well as the provisions regarding the final destination of catches, and other requirements related to each fishing modality, are set out in the Regulation and in the resolutions dictated by the Minister of Minal.”

Similarly, everything related to fishing areas, “which are determined by the Council of Ministers,” is set out, while “the management and handling of fishery resources in these areas is the responsibility of the Minister of Food Industry.”

In addition, it is clarified that, within these zones, “the practice of fishing may be limited or totally prohibited in some places, due to state interests related to the defense of the country or the environment.”

RESPONSIBILITIES AND SUPPORTS

Together with other ordering elements and the structures responsible for implementing them, the draft bill establishes that the Advisory Committee on Fisheries will be Minal’s advisory body on the order and administration of the hydrobiological resources of sea, river, and lake waters.

It is up to this Committee to “analyze the state of exploitation of hydrobiological resources in areas where the state exercises its sovereignty, and propose the necessary regulations and measures to achieve sustainable economic exploitation, which includes fishing zones and quotas, closed seasons, the establishment of minimum and maximum sizes or weights, requirements, limitations or prohibitions of fishing tackle, and other provisions to that effect.”

Specifications regarding the sanitary protection of aquatic species, as well as fishery inspections to prevent and address violations of the planned regimen, are also included in the proposed law.

PARTICIPATION CHANNELS

The draft Fisheries Law, like that on National Symbols, is being debated in provinces with deputies and directors of competent bodies, March 27 through April 3. Citizens may also send their opinions to the email address: leydepesca@anpp.gob.cu

According to the report Food Perspectives, transmitted by the organization’s office in Havana, Brazil will replace the United States as the world’s third largest supplier of soybean oil and will continue to be the main global supplier of poultry and flour.

Regarding the projections in the production of milk and beef, FAO estimates an increase in the results in these areas.

According to the text, the expansion of wheat planting in Argentina allows estimating an increase of eight percent of production in that country of South America.

However, Mexico, one of the main Latin American producers of this cereal, recorded a decline in the level of plantations, which is expected to significantly reduce its production.

According to the FAO, wheat imports in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2018-2019 will approach 25 million tons, for an increase of close to one million tons, mainly due to the major acquisitions in Brazil and Mexico, the main ones buyers of that food in the area.

Regarding rice, prospects in the area are negative, and point to an annual reduction of 1.5 percent in total production, which will fall to 18.6 million tons.

Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay and Venezuela will harvest less rice than in 2017, falls that will not be compensated by the increases foreseen in Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Paraguay and Peru.

Total purchases of Latin America and the Caribbean cereal could decrease by five percent to 4.2 million tons, as a result of cuts in Brazil, Haiti, Mexico and Peru, due to sufficient local availability and higher international prices.

With respect to sugar, in South America the latest estimates point to a decrease in production in 2017/18, in generally unfavorable climatic conditions (Argentina) and a greater proportion of the sugarcane crop used for ethanol production (Brazil).

(Prensa Latina)