The Vice President of the Republic of Cuba, Salvador Valdés Mesa, visited the province of Pinar del Río this Sunday to assess the state of the rice program, one of the main concerns of the government amid the severe food crisis that the country is facing.
During his visit to the Agroindustrial Grain Company of Los Palacios, the fourth most important rice production center on the Island, he emphasized the need to expand cultivation areas and improve cereal yields.
To the surprise of the viewers of Tele Pinar, in his speech, Valdés Mesa acknowledged the central role of rice in the diet of Cubans and its strong national demand.
The biggest incentive today to grow rice in this country is the high demand we have for rice. Because we eat it in the morning and in the evening. The other foods accompany rice… a bit of protein, fruit, root vegetables, and vegetables, accompany the rice, the leader stated.
In the last 15 years, the Cuban regime has increasingly relied on rice imports, a situation that has worsened in recent years and forced the regime to depend on donations and allocate hard currency resources to ensure the purchase of this food on the international market, where its price has increased significantly.
In this context, Valdés Mesa emphasized the need to increase local production and reduce dependence on imports.
"We eat rice late and tomorrow, and it is what the country spends the most on in the imports we make to provide the regulated family basket. So, we really need to put our hearts into it and shorten the deadlines. We can do it. We have the land, we have water, we have infrastructure, and we need to use it. What do we lack? Foreign currency," the vice president pointed out.
That the main dish of Cuban families is rice, and that the fundamental shortfall of the regime is foreign currency (except for building hotels and infrastructure for international tourism), were the major "revelations" from Valdés Mesa in Pinar del Río.
To produce rice, it is necessary to "use foreign currency," but according to the vice president Miguel Díaz-Canel, "to have foreign currency, one must export more." But what can the country export to generate the foreign currency needed to increase rice production?
Apparently, Valdés Mesa's strategy to transform that vicious circle into a "virtuous circle" is to export... rice. "The country needs to export, to shift our culture from importers to exporters," he told the farmers of Pinar del Río amidst the rice fields.
The vice president also addressed the economic crisis affecting Cubans, specifically mentioning the inadequacy of salaries and pensions in light of rising prices.
"Our retirees receive an average pension of 1,525 pesos. You can't live on that; with an average salary of 5,000 pesos, you can't live, nor with 6,000 pesos... You can't live considering the prices as they are today," he admitted.
Despite the critical situation, Valdés Mesa stated that the government aims to promote the rice program starting in 2025, as part of a broader strategy to reverse the food crisis.
His enthusiasm contrasts with the official data. According to the Cuba Statistical Yearbook 2023, the rice sector experienced a reduction of 59.1% in that year compared to 2022.
It is important to remember that the Cuban government recently announced an agreement with Vietnam for the transfer of land intended for rice production on the Island, a measure that has also faced criticism due to the country's inability to ensure its own food sovereignty.
However, the production figures and the lack of concrete incentives for the agricultural sector raise questions about the viability of this objective.
Food crisis and unfulfilled promises: The history of Valdés Mesa
Valdés Mesa's statements are set against the backdrop of a food crisis that has prompted the Cuban government to make continual calls for increased agricultural production.
Since 2018, the vice president has emphasized the need for Cuba "to live off what it produces", although the results have been a complete failure.
On several occasions, he has urged farmers to plant alternative crops such as cassava and to "be efficient" in managing agricultural resources.
Over the last few years, Valdés Mesa has acknowledged that the Cuban economy does not have sufficient currency to ensure stability in food imports and has advocated for saving policies to lower prices.
However, his calls have contrasted with the reality of a country where inflation and shortages have been increasing.
In this context, the government has organized imports to try to stabilize the market, but the scarcity of resources and the lack of an effective agricultural policy have complicated the situation.
In 2021, Valdés Mesa stated that "they are owed by the producers and they need to be paid", an issue that remains unresolved and directly impacts the willingness of farmers to increase local production.
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