Cuban prime minister urges sale of agricultural products to tourism industry

Havana, December 16 (RHC)-- The Prime Minister of Cuba, Manuel Marrero, is encouraging the sale of agricultural products to Tourism, as one of the main problems to resolve in order to reduce food imports for this sector.

The Cuban prime minister said that there were challenges such as quality and fair prices, both for producers and entities, as it also depends on whether the leisure industry truly becomes the locomotive that the island's economy needs.

Manuel Marrero intervened in a parliamentary debate on an audit of the food import substitution process for the tourism industry, which he described as very deep, when addressing the main problems that persist.

At the National Assembly meeting, Marrero referred to all the potentialities that exist in industrial food production, and that by not taking advantage of it, they force the importation of unjustified products, such as pickled vegetables, often from distant markets.

"The state business system has to wake up from its lethargy and assume the autonomy that has been granted to it with the measures approved by the government, to manage contracts and make decisions that benefit this necessary productive chain," he said.

He addressed other issues such as the lack of workforce in agriculture, and the need to gradually meet the needs of isolated hotel facilities, and then move towards the larger tourist resorts, such as Varadero in Matanzas.

Tourism is strategic for the economy of the Caribbean nation, being one of the sectors that provides entry of liquid currency, amid the contractions generated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the tightening of Washington's blockade of the island.