Almost all the main agricultural productions in Cuba “decline in order”, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy of Cuba, Alejandro Gil Fernández, recognized before the National Assembly of People’s Power.
As reported, without general figures being offered, in 2023 all these productions are lower than the previous year, when the levels of availability of root vegetables, legumes, eggs, milk, rice and beans among others have decreased.
For example, it puts a sharp drop in pork production. In 2017, he recalled almost 200,000 tons of this food, a favorite of Cubans, handed over to the industry. But in 2022 that amount will plummet to 8,100 tons.
“What happened? That all the tons of pork in 2017 were based on the highest flour and soybean grain. These inputs have the highest prices today. The production in the country of these foods to stimulate animal consumption” he reported; reported by the official Cubadebate site.
As usual, the official called for more production, without mentioning the low level of government investment in agriculture, which suffered a devastating blow after the application of the economic package of the Business Order in 2021.
For this reason, as Gil Fernández recognized, “food is where the main impact of inflation is collected”, with prices never seen on the island of products such as eggs or milk.
“The speculation of food prices is one of the problems that disturbs the population the most,” he acknowledged, without mentioning that the government sells in dollars with a profit percentage even above the import price.
As for the products in the book account that the Government sells to Cubans, and which, despite the monthly frequency, is hardly enough to eat for a week, Gil Fernández acknowledged that it has saved between 1,500 and 1,600 million dollars, since “almost everything is tied to imports.”
Is there a remedy? “National production should participate more in this basic basket”, he asks, recalling the call made by government officials a long time ago and which has not been fulfilled and does not seem to be fulfilled in the medium term.
