Yields have stalled between two and 2.5 tons per hectare, whereas in the past they reached up to five and the Vietnamese achieve up to seven in the rest of the Island
14ymedio, Madrid, December 12, 2025 –- “We’ve gone practically four years without having that technological package,” Odisnel Traba Ferrales, agricultural director of the Fernando Echenique Agroindustrial Company, told the official press. The manager refers to the kit the State used to distribute to producers—containing imported fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides—crucial for some crops, in this case rice, which is also considered a “very technical” crop.
The province of Granma, once among the elite of rice-producing regions, plans to plant 41,000 hectares of the country’s total 200,000, but the data is hardly encouraging. The manager himself admits, between the lines, that the estimate is far from realistic. “The total planting commitment in the province (30,000 hectares from the Fernando Echenique company and 11,000 from the José Manuel Capote Sosa company) is quite a tough goal in the current context,” he emphasizes.
No surprise there: the yield of these lands is far below what was achieved in the past and barely reaches two to 2.5 tons per hectare, compared with the five obtained previously. The figure looks ridiculous when compared with the success Vietnamese producers are achieving both in Pinar del Río—where the company Agri VMA, which has land in usufruct, exceeds 7.2 tons per hectare—and elsewhere on the Island.
No surprise: the yield of these lands is far below what was achieved in the past and barely reaches two to 2.5 tons per hectare, compared with the five obtained previously.
But even more striking are the results from Vietnam’s cooperation as a State actor. Within this program, yields are even higher, according to recent data published by the Cuban Institute for Seed Plant Research, which found yields of up to 9.14 tons per hectare in the winter season (7 in spring) for one of the varieties they work with, Viva76. In Cuba there are four varieties, three belonging to the Mekong Delta Rice Institute (MEKO), with results that have impressed even the Asian country itself.
Another variety, Viba17, yields 8.28 tons per hectare in winter and 7.13 in spring, while Viba51 reaches 7.18 in winter and 5.5 in spring. “In the context of Cuba’s efforts to overcome food security challenges due to harsh climate, saline soil, and prolonged drought, the acceptance and testing of Vietnamese rice varieties is considered a strategic step,” Vietnamese media highlighted this week.
The three varieties—grown in Matanzas, Cienfuegos, and Mayabeque—stand out for their productivity and disease resistance, with yields between 20% and 30% higher than the local variety, triple on average. Among their advantages is very fast growth, which reduces costs: about 100 or 110 days of growth compared with 120 or 125 for Cuban rice, according to the Vietnamese institute.
“This is clear proof of the effectiveness of the Rice Cooperation Project in particular, and agricultural projects in Cuba in general,” said one of the engineers who was in the country supporting the program. Although the expert praised the “hospitality” of Cubans, there have been no shortage of Vietnamese reports complaining about local work methods, which have led to program cancellations in the past.
This, along with the shortage of technology, has brought production in Granma province to a bare minimum, heavily affected as well by the flooding caused by Hurricane Melissa when the Cauto River overflowed—the planting areas are concentrated in its basin: Río Cauto, with 23,121 hectares, and Yara, with 11,602.
A report from the official State newspaper Granma, which on Friday offers the first part of what is expected to be a broader piece, includes the experience of one of the workers, who describes the difficulties of managing water. “The first two months are key; you have to be here from sunup to sundown. Today you plant the rice and tomorrow, without fail, you have to drain the field, ‘pachanguearlo,’ so that puddles don’t form. That means removing all the water because the seed is pregerminated and, if it stays submerged, it drowns.”
His account is interrupted by a colleague who highlights another problem: “There are enough weeds to fill a cart. When I barely opened it, the rush of water almost swept me away,” he says—what Granma describes as “hydraulic sabotage.” The newspaper attributes serious issues to the “water war” in the area: farmers who block the canals—“in their desperation,” it excuses—to get a few minutes of irrigation, which ultimately deprives another farmer.
The newspaper attributes serious issues to the “water war” in the area: farmers blocking the canals—“in their desperation,” it excuses—to get a few minutes of irrigation that, in the end, they take from someone else.
“Before, when a seed field was planted, anyone who stole water was prosecuted; today nothing happens,” laments one interviewee. “Just last night, the producer of the field had to leave a man on guard at this gate because people open it to take the water. That fight is old in these fields. You have to stay alert because there’s always someone ready to take advantage of someone else’s water,” he says.
The report contains another devastating line: despite the harshness of the work, “after the sugar mill shut down, there is nothing else to do but plant rice.” One interviewee claims he earned half a million pesos by flooding three caballerías* two months ago, but it isn’t easy. “The mud, the mosquitoes, the sun, the thirst… it’s brutal,” he says.
The lack of fuel also complicates rice transport—the crop “gets diverted” when it cannot be moved— not to mention Gelma, the wholesale supplier of inputs, where “there is not a single product,” forcing people to resort to mipymes [small private enterprises]. The need to pay in cash—without the bank providing it—and the high prices in pesos because of the devaluation of the national currency complete the picture.
“The success of this campaign will not depend solely on the sweat poured into the furrows, but on the ability to untie those old knots that choke productive potential,” Granma concludes. The second chapter, however, remains to be read.
*caballería is a land measure equalling 194.2 acres
Translated by Regina Anavy
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