While a vast majority of Cubans lack adequate access to food and state markets remain empty, the Agroindustrial Grains Company Fernando Echenique (Granmax), in the province of Granma, has begun training sessions for its staff in preparation for the launch of Bayamec.cu, its new online store for cereals and grains.
The training sessions began on Wednesday and aim to prepare employees in the management of the platform and customer service procedures, with the stated goal of ensuring a smooth online shopping experience from day one of operations, stated a report by the station Radio Bayamo.
The initiative stands in striking contrast to the magnitude of the food crisis facing the island.
A survey from the Food Monitor Program presented in May estimated that nearly 97% of the Cuban population lacked adequate access to food and that about 34% of households had at least one member who went to bed hungry in the 30 days prior to the survey.
The Minister of Food Industry, Alberto López Díaz, admitted in June that it had not been possible to distribute oil, chicken, or yogurt through the regulated basket throughout the year.
Cuba produces only about 111,000 tons of rice per year against a demand of 600,000, and imports between 70% and 80% of the food it consumes, costing nearly 2 billion dollars annually.
Granmax, based in Bayamo, is historically the largest rice producer in the country and accounts for nearly 30% of national rice consumption.
In November 2022, it obtained the concession to operate in foreign trade and became the first exporting and importing company in the eastern province.
In 2026, he participated in a joint project with the Vietnamese company TBAgri that delivered more than 470 tons of rice grown in Yara.
Bayamec.cu is established under the framework of Decree 35 of 2021, which ordered the Ministry of Agriculture to develop e-commerce options for agricultural products, including online sales with delivery services.
However, the digital investment arrives when the state is unable to supply physical sales points.
On Friday, the leader Miguel Díaz-Canel toured the Defense Council of the Cubanacán Zone, in the Playa municipality of Havana, and called for turning every available piece of land into gardens to alleviate the shortage.
Days earlier, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz and Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa visited the Defense Zone of Santiago de las Vegas in the municipality of Boyeros, where they also demanded an increase in local production.
None of those calls has resulted, according to available data, in a significant recovery of agricultural production on the island.
Rice production in Cuba has fallen to 30% of the levels seen in 2018, with yields dropping from four tons per hectare to just 1.7, a trend that no virtual store can reverse on its own.
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