The president Miguel Díaz-Canel visited this Friday the Defense Zone (CDZ) Capdevila-Altahabana, in the Boyeros municipality of Havana, and urged local leaders to put into production the agricultural lands that remain idle, in light of National Defense Day.
In addition to demanding that unused plots of land be cultivated, the President of the National Defense Council also urged for intensified attention to vulnerable sectors, to involve both state and private economic actors in pension payments to retirees, and to promote the use of renewable energy sources, as reported by the Caribbean Channel of the official television.
He also highlighted the importance of implementing the 176 approved economic and social transformations in the country.
The visited defense area covers 11.4 square kilometers and has a population of over 30,700 inhabitants, and since May 5, it has been organizing and preparing its forces in anticipation of a potential military aggression, the source specified.
According to Díaz-Canel, one of the main concerns in this area is the existence of around 100 hectares of land suitable for agriculture, of which only about 50% is currently being utilized.
For this reason, it was pointed out that "no space should be left uncultivated, both with short-cycle varieties and permanent ones, including intercropping with the latter," the report from the Presidency portal emphasized.
The ruler was accompanied by the President of the National Assembly of People's Power, Esteban Lazo Hernández; the Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee of the Communist Party Roberto Morales Ojeda; and the Army Corps General and Minister of the Interior Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas.
The Division General Ernest Feijóo Eiró, head of the Western Army; Liván Izquierdo Alonso, president of the Provincial Defense Council; as well as Yucleidi Ramírez, president of the Municipal Defense Council, and the presidents of the CDZ of Boyeros also participated.
The call comes as Cuba is experiencing one of its worst food crises in decades, relying on imports to cover between 70% and 80% of the food it consumes, at an estimated cost of nearly 2 billion dollars annually.
In August, Díaz-Canel visited the CDZ Cubanacán in Playa, and
A month earlier, in July, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz demanded to cultivate in Arroyo Naranjo and summarized his message with a statement directed at the residents of the area: "The issue of food is crucial, and unlike other defense zones, you have land."
In May, before foreign communists gathered in Havana, Díaz-Canel had declared that Cuba should eat not what it imported, but "what we are capable of producing in the country".
The results of the agricultural sector, however, contrast with that rhetoric. Rice production dropped from 304,000 tons in 2018 to just 111,000 in 2025, against an estimated demand of 600,000 tons.
In the midst of the energy collapse that restricts the operation of agricultural machinery, Cuban agriculture has returned to the use of oxen and windmills.
This scenario is further compounded by the deterioration of the national economy. The Economist Intelligence Unit projects a contraction of the Cuban GDP of 7.2% this year, the largest among 27 economies in the region, while the accumulated decline since 2019 would reach 23%.
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