Havana, Mar 19, (RHC), – Rafael Ramon Santiesteban was elected on Tuesday as the new president of Cuba's National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), during the extraordinary plenary meeting of the organization.

The 44-year-old Santiesteban was previously the president of the organization in the province of Holguin for over nine years, and later a member of the National Bureau of the ANAP, Granma newspaper reported.

The plenary meeting was presided over by Cuban Vice-president José Ramón Machado Ventura, who ratified the importance to continue improving Cuba's agricultural strategy and infrastructure.

“Agricultural and farming development is vital for the Revolution to continue progressing. People often speak about how much we spend in food imports and how much we could save. We have to move on to another line of thought; it is not a matter of eliminating imports but of developing the potential we have for export,” he stated.