The Agricultural Group has set out to sow 200,000 hectares (494,212 acres), half of which are under the responsibility of “large enterprises and specialized centers”
14ymedio, Havana, October 15, 2025 — The lack of production in Cuba is not easy to solve, but it usually finds compensation in a corresponding show of ‘voluntarism’. This is the case for rice, of which the Government intends to sow 200,000 hectares next year.
According to a note published this Wednesday in Granma, the task, “indicated by the highest leadership of the country” is of the “first order” and is expected to be launched this coming November. The program, reported the newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba based on statements by Orlando Linares Morel, president of the Agricultural Group of the Ministry of Agriculture, aims to cover almost the entire country — 14 provinces, 133 municipalities and 23,000 producers.
Of the planned figure, half — 100,000 hectares — will be in the charge of “large companies and specialized centers” of Pinar del Río, Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus, Camagüey and Granma. The rest will be devoted to the cultivation of the so-called “popular rice,” much criticized by experts for being inefficient, although the official report says nothing about this.
“Anyone can join this second modality,” says the official, “both for purposes of self-consumption and with intentions to contribute to industry and the national balance sheet.” The planting, he continues, “will be supported by national seed, while the Vietnamese side, which will participate in the program, will contribute its own seeds.”
The sowing, he continues, “will be supported by national seed, while the Vietnamese side, which will participate in the program, will contribute its own seeds.”
This refers to the projects in Pinar del Rio (in the municipalities of Los Palacios and Consolación del Sur) and in Artemisa Province, where the Vietnamese company Agri VMA is working on land under usufruct whose yields are much higher than those of the State: seven tons per hectare compared to the 1.5 average of the country..
The statements made by officials on October 7 in a meeting devoted to the subject made it clear that the private sector has become the main producer of rice on the Island, although the Round Table TV program acknowledged that, even with the non-State contribution, the future was bleak. According to the authorities, the current campaign will not be good, even with outside help.
In 2024, Cuba produced 80,000 tons of rice on 79,000 hectares, just over 10 per cent of its domestic consumption with a yield of just over one ton per hectare. By 2025, according to a report from Granma published last March, the goal was to plant 100,000 tons and obtain 100,000 tons of rice.
The latter would imply a growth of 20% compared to 2024, something complicated with the energy deficit. For the remaining 100,000 hectares of self-consumption and small production by 2026, the target seems unattainable under current conditions.
Last March, the Agricultural Group insisted on the need to develop, in some 70 municipalities, the cultivation of “popular rice,” a modality that “already proved its effectiveness during the hard years of the Special Period, in the 1990s.” The authorities’ aspire to return to agriculture with oxen because there is no fuel and no “technological package” to improve yields.
However, they acknowledged the inadequacy of domestic production to meet domestic demand and the need to import the product. “Last year, the rice harvested in the country was sold only in markets, fairs and some destinations of the Ministry of Internal Trade. But the basic basket [via the ration system] was 100% imported, and in 2025 it is also expected to be so,” said Orlando Linares.
That is why the fanciful intentions expressed in Granma this Tuesday are surprising. It also ensures that the State will provide the necessary fuel to producers, up to 70% “directly,” 10% in debit cards, and the rest in dollars, “in order to achieve deliveries and sales to industry, so they can count on cash to cover the high costs of cultivation and compensation for temporary workers.”
The plan even foresees the “accelerated introduction” of drones to increase performance and decrease water consumption. To “back up” the goal, they plan to use “the return of sales financing in US dollars from tourism and other sectors, which could help the rice program under current conditions, basically in the acquisition of tires, parts, tools and accessories for tractors, combine harvesters, industrial inputs and other resources.”
Today, the rice distributed in the basic basket comes from outside. On September 20, 19,000 tons of grain arrived at the port of Havana — without the national television revealing its origin — to be distributed throughout the country.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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