According to the State, producers have accumulated a debt of more than 10 million liters
14ymedio, Madrid, 15 October 2024 — Acopio, Cuba’s State Procurement and Distribution Agency, is collecting barely 60,000 litres of milk a day in the province of Villa Clara, 40% of what they collected last year, when the average was 150,000. At this point, the State says that farmers have accumulated a debt of more than 10 million litres, an amount that, they say, is increasing. The result, they lament, is that “for the first time in history in the month of October the entire demand for ‘special’ diets — for children, sick people and seniors — cannot be met.”
The data was released by official journalist Jesús Álvarez López, reporter for the provincial radio station CMHW, in an opinion article published this Monday, in which he describes producers and those who participate in the informal market – that is, the majority of the population – as “merchants of disorder” for continuing to seek profit by buying and selling milk on the sly, despite the fact that since March Acopio has been paying more per liter.
In addition, he also accuses the authorities of being “technocrats who don’t even take the time to listen and think, and who want to solve everything with money,” but who don’t know how to properly manage payments or breaches of contract. In this regard, he specifically points to banking, which is responsible, according to the conclusions that Álvarez draws from the comments he hears on the street.
“If the magnetic cards had reached each producer with the same speed as our elderly retirees received them, no producer would be owed a penny”
“If the magnetic cards had reached each producer with the same speed as our old retirees, who were not even asked if they had cell phones, no producer would be owed a penny. The money would be on their card, even if they were suffering the same hardships that we all suffer when they demand cash for what we need to buy,” he complains.
The new prices for each liter of surplus milk for producers came into effect on March 1st, rising from the 20 pesos previously paid to the current 38 pesos. At that time, Alvarez had already warned that the measure could be a failure. “Will the price increase prevent the diversion of milk? Life will convince much better than my words of warning after so much time,” he said, going on to argue that if the cost per liter continued to rise on the informal market and was paid, this would mean that “around 6 billion pesos would go on the street,” with “no other effect for consumers than continuing to increase inflation.”
Now, the journalist recalls having drawn attention to the fact that paying more money was not the answer. “Today we are worse off,” he says. And he adds: “If the State decided to pay 100 pesos per liter, the ’merchants of disorder’ would pay more and in cash.”
Álvarez says that “it is unethical to justify the diversion of milk or its derivatives to obtain cash, while putting food intended for children and the sick at risk,” but he does not exempt the authorities from responsibility. He claims that the “municipal milk groups do not work” and therefore do not provide the necessary solutions, while state companies do not even know what is happening.
“And the one who siphons off the milk is just as guilty as the one who doesn’t demand what is his,” he concludes.
The deficiencies of the collection system are in the news every day. A little over a week ago, several cattle ranchers from Sancti Spíritus reported to this newspaper the constant non-payments by the State due to lack of cash. Without paper money, they said, they refuse to fulfill their commitments with official companies.
“I’ve been selling milk on my own for a couple of weeks now. I didn’t make any money selling it to the state anyway because the payment is bad. That same liter of milk that I deliver after fulfilling my commitment, for which I only get paid 38 pesos, I sell on the street for 120,” a rancher told 14ymedio.
Most of the milk contracted by the State is distributed through the rationed market for children under seven years of age and people on medical diets, in addition to reserving a portion – when possible – for senior citizens’ canteens and child care centers.
In Villa Clara itself, as reported by this newspaper on Saturday , milk has begun to be transported in refrigerated tanker trucks stored in warehouses, also air-conditioned, to discourage farmers from selling it illegally. The guajiros occasionally attributed their breaches of contract – and the diversion of the product to the informal market – to the poor conditions of the State for preserving milk, but with this new method there is no longer an excuse.
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