National Assembly of People's Power (File image/RHC)

By Roberto Morejón

The Cuban parliament has called on the people to mobilize and prioritize food production, when the country allocates a large amount of foreign currency to the purchase abroad of items included in the basic food basket.
 
In the most recent ordinary session of the National Assembly of People's Power, the deputies emphasized the implementation of the Food Security and Nutritional Education Law, approved in 2022, but with results yet to be developed.
 
Official reports showed that up to May, the main agricultural productions in the largest of the Antilles exhibited unfavorable contributions, with non-compliances and decreases in relation to the same stage of 2022.
 
The expansion of extensive agriculture, with difficulties in obtaining fertilizers, pesticides, fuels, animal feed and other essential inputs, had a lot to do with these deliveries that fell short of expectations.
 
In addition to organizational and management problems, Cuba is also affected by the labor shortage due to the exodus to cities, the pandemic, the climate change crisis and the war in Ukraine, with its impact on global markets and inflation.
 
Cuba also has scarce foreign exchange reserves to acquire resources abroad due to the U.S. blockade.
 
In this adverse context, the application of the Food Security Law, aimed at reducing dependence on imports, becomes more complex, in a domestic scenario where inflation up to May was 15 percent.
 
The Caribbean nation must import almost 80 percent of the food for consumption, a millionaire expense impossible to pay by the public treasury and when the gradual recovery of the economy has not yet reached the necessary pace.
 
The government instructed the municipalities to take stock of food production and demand and to identify those items that can be self-sustainable.
 
It is also conceived that new economic actors, including micro, medium and small enterprises, should be integrated into municipal development strategies.
 
It is true that the majority of land ownership in Cuba is state-owned, but in times of crisis, small and medium-scale agriculture takes on a leading role.
 
All possible ways, including the revival of families in the fields of domestic animal husbandry and plots attached to homes, along with the organization of food systems at the grassroots, should help to rescue the now declining productive culture.