Another 25,000 guajiros make up the rest of the peasant “body,” subject to the vagaries of the informal market.
14ymedio, Havana, 16 November 2024 — With a cartoon of a dollar bill decorated with elements of the Cuban peso, the Escambray newspaper denounced, this Saturday, that the campesinos of Sancti Spíritus are forced to buy supplies in foreign currency. Supporting production in “fulas” (dollars) leads to the inevitable increase in the price of products, a situation that the guajiros raised – not without “tensions” – during an extraordinary plenary session of the Provincial Committee of the Communist Party.
“Without dollars there is no “fuel, fertilizers, chemical products, machinery, implements,” the farmers listed. A figure that illustrates how indispensable the purchase of resources in foreign currency has become is what the Logistics UEB of the Ministry of Agriculture provides in just one month in the province: more than 270,000 dollars in inputs.”
The bank only accepts cards – Classic, Mastercard, Visa and the foreign currency card issued by the state-owned Banco de Crédito y Comercio (Bandec), with initial number 9240 – and clients from different places in the province, but also from Villa Clara, Holguín and Ciego de Ávila, come to it. They have a 12 million peso plan. “We almost always reach it,” they say proudly.
A large number of producers have to bring their seeds from abroad, through relatives.
Most of the purchases are made by some 40 “leading producers,” “whose main commitment is to the State,” who are able to constantly acquire what they need, because – Escambray believes – they have dollars on hand for one reason or another. The province, however, has a population of 25,000 guajiros who are subject to the fluctuations of the exchange rate and must buy the currency “on the street,” at an exchange rate of more than 330 pesos (328 this Saturday, according to El Toque monitoring ).
This large number of producers have to acquire their seeds from abroad, through “a relative over there” – in the United States – or through unstable channels. “It is very difficult,” several told the newspaper, adding that the Party is well aware of the situation.
The State has promised a “scheme” so that the farmers have foreign currency and save when importing supplies. But, again, the plans will benefit above all the 40 “leaders,” because these are sectors that Havana wants to promote, especially the tobacco sector. However, even the situation of these large producers is not satisfactory. According to the salesmen of UEB Logística, previously 20 to 40 guajiros visited the store daily, now only eight or ten do so.
“Some take a tonne; others, a sack. Sometimes they join together and put the money on a single card and one person comes and buys for everyone. The most popular items are fertilizers, such as urea and NPK, herbicides; also tires and machetes, sold for more than two dollars. For some, certain products are very good, but the price is high,” the sellers explain.
One of the most sought-after products is the roll of netting, which sells for 4.22 dollars per meter. Farmers have to join together to buy it, because it is sold only in whole rolls of 100 meters.
One of the most sought-after products is the roll of netting, which sells for $4.22 per meter.
Escambray admits that the State openly benefits the “leaders” with solvency. “When the product arrives in small quantities, we inform the Delegation so that it can allocate the promised production. The formula is tough, but for many farmers it is better to have these inputs, despite their price, because it is worse not to have them or to buy them on the street where they are more expensive,” say the Logistics directors.
Juan José Nazco González, the provincial delegate for Agriculture, tried to “placate” consumers from Sancti Spiritus and the farmers who cannot buy at the level of the “leaders,” during an interview with Escambray. He said that tobacco growers “have guaranteed” supplies because it is an industry that, for the Government, is a priority. He admitted, however, that “no one produces to lose,” but that many aspects of production have gotten out of hand for the Ministry of Agriculture, which has not “finished ordering” the process.
The Escambray journalist who wrote the article lamented the ineffectiveness of all the regulations. “The paper can withstand anything they put in it and it has been a practice for years to divert written commitments from their course,” she concluded. Pedro López Cabello, deputy general delegate of Agriculture, offered even less hope: The authorities do not have “many ways” to guarantee supplies “through the ’little channel’.” “The only thing the State can guarantee is the land,” he said.
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