The Minister of Agriculture paints a much more dire picture than that of 2023, for which he still offers no solutions
14ymedio, Madrid, 10 October 2024 — Until very recently, the most recent catastrophic official data available on chicken egg production was for 2023. It was known that Cuba went from producing five million units in 2020 to 2.2 million in 2023. The intervention of the Minister of Agriculture, Ydael Pérez Brito yesterday on television to explain the food situation on the Island shows that the well has no bottom. “Now, when we feed the mass that we have, 1,200,000 are produced, and at the moment it is less than 200,000,” he said, a figure consistent with the number of animals. Four years ago there were eight million hens in the country. Now there are only three, five million less.
The third example was rice. The minister said that there is capacity to plant some 200,000 hectares of the product. “But this year we have not surpassed the areas of specialized rice farms, which are approximately 60,000 hectares. It is very difficult to produce under these conditions,” he admitted.
These numbers could lead to the resignation of any political leader, but what economist Pedro Monreal predicted, moments before the start of State TV’s Roundtable program, happened. “The crisis began before the pandemic and agricultural policy has been unable to resolve it, but the absence of statistics for 2023, added to the usual low self-criticism of the ministry, seem to predict a new round of complaints, justifications and promises,” he wrote in X. His comments were illustrated by a spectacular graph of the food collapse since 2013 that indicates that only root vegetables maintain the level of that year, while the rest have been reduced, in some cases – such as citrus fruits – even by more than 75%.
The economist was not wrong. Pérez Brito has no solution for the imminent food disaster affecting the country. He spoke of the tightening of the blockade*, which worsens access to financing, and an alleged international economic crisis to which he attributes higher prices for raw materials and transport. He also spoke of the fuel shortage – today people work on the Island with 10% less than before, he said – and what it entails, as well as the old machinery. He indicated that there is only 7% irrigation, and spoke about the aging of the workers, aggravated by the mass exodus that is reducing the population.
The minister then said that it was not a question of justifications, but of explaining the situation in order to find solutions, but he did not offer any solutions in the hour and a half of the program. Despite the mention of “offering more incentives to people to return to the countryside,” Pérez Brito did not make a single proposal for this nor did he point to the slightest change that the sector needs. On the contrary, he outlined all the mechanisms that exist and which – it is deduced – should be enough.
He pointed out that “institutionally, there are the necessary policies and legal norms that allow the advancement and organization of food production in the territories,” despite the stubbornness of the data he had presented and which he acknowledged when he said that “in 2024, most of the plans have not been fulfilled.” And although he pointed out that root vegetables – such as cassava and plantain – have better indicators, he was blunt: “We are not going to achieve what is needed.”
One of the objectives of the Minister of Agriculture’s presence was to talk about the agricultural census, which has been carried out since March and is now 66% complete. Inspectors have detected more than 100,000 irregularities, of which 60,000 are related to problems with improvements, at least 40% of which is having built houses on spaces that were previously dedicated to production. A few weeks ago the Government approved a law to legalize the existing homes – in view of the disaster that it would be to dismantle them – and to put a stop, in a decisive manner, to new illegalities in building.
The census has revealed that there are only 440,754 producers in the country – not enough to feed the island – of which 140,000 (32%) have less than one hectare, effectively for self-consumption, as the official pointed out.
The census has shown that there are only 440,754 producers in the country – not enough to feed the island – of which 140,000 (32%) have less than one hectare, effectively for self-consumption
Among the penalties, more than 9,600 usufruct leases have been cancelled due to non-compliance, contracts have been terminated and more than 172,000,000 pesos in fines have been applied. The minister assured that theft and illegal slaughter of cattle have a fundamental influence on production, although he did not provide data, and said that the greatest violations are the under-reporting of animals with regards to births, illegal sales, animals without markings and undocumented deaths or absences.
The discussion brought to light some other interesting data, such as the shortage of fertilizers after “four or five” years of no imports, except for the tobacco program or potatoes. As for rice, whose cultivation Pérez Brito discussed several times, there are two types of production on the Island: extensive, in rice fields and with all the technology – “today we have it very depressed” – and popular, which barely amounts to 36,000 hectares and, although it is mostly for self-consumption, “it can help.”
Pérez Brito spent time explaining to the TV audience the structure of the ministry and the number of companies and cooperatives that manage agricultural production, but interest in the program had already been lost due to the lack of proposals and the absence of the aforementioned incentives to attract people to the countryside. The end was the confirmation that, according to the authorities, everything is done by them.
“Our country has approved policies for land that no one else has, such as lending it free of charge for planting,” “We are granting cooperatives greater autonomy in their management,” “In Cuba, the destination of our production is guaranteed, but we have to produce more,” “We must continue to invest in the export of our production, so that this export can also finance the acquisition of inputs,” “We must continue working with foreign investment and collaborative projects, as well as linking with non-state forms of management.” This string of statements suggests that the country’s leaders do everything right and that the poor results are due to others.
*Translator’s note: There is, in fact, no US ‘blockade’ on Cuba, but this continues to be the term the Cuban government prefers to apply to the ongoing US embargo. During the Cuban Missile Crisis the US ordered a Naval blockade (which it called a ‘quarantine’) on Cuba in 1962, between 22 October and 20 November of that year. The blockade was lifted when Russia agreed to remove its nuclear missiles from the Island. The embargo had been imposed earlier in February of the same year, and although modified from time to time, it is still in force.
