Vietnamese in Los Palacios use efficient rice technology

By Roberto Morejon

Foreign investment in Cuba and sustained cooperation with Vietnam are taking on a new dimension in the heat of a plan to increase rice production in the Caribbean archipelago, where the grain is in high demand.

At a time when the country's supply of the basic food basket is facing delays and shortages due to economic constraints, efforts are being made to increase rice plantations, which have dwindled in recent years.

In this context of shortages due to the tightening of the blockade and Cuba's inclusion in a list of countries that the U.S. government considers sponsors of terrorism, new policies are also being implemented in the Caribbean nation to increase foreign investment.

The development of national strategies for rice production through the entrepreneurial route, with the participation of various actors, is part of this path.  

One of them is Vietnam, with which Cuba has a long relationship of friendship and cooperation that will be 65 years old in 2025.

The project comes at a time when the respective governments have decided to take the relationship to a new level, including investment.

This aspect is particularly important in promoting food security in Cuba, as evidenced by the fact that a Vietnamese company was the first to receive land in that country, in principle a little more than 300 hectares.

Vietnamese technicians sent by this company will be in charge of planting rice for three years in the municipality of Los Palacios, in the western Cuban province of Pinar del Río, where fertilizers, herbicides and other inputs will arrive from Hanoi.

It should be noted that the southern Los Palacios Agro-industrial Grain Company has the best irrigation systems and the largest number of acres under technical systems, but they lack maintenance and reflect low yields, which should be significantly increased based on the Vietnamese experience.

In this way, Cuba is embarking on something unprecedented: the provision of land to promote crops that are essential for the domestic table, which is currently in deficit, on the basis of foreign investment modalities and with the help of efficient procedures such as those that can be provided by our dear Vietnamese friends.