"Farm to Table" in Cuba

(English/ Espanol) ("Farm to Table (in Cuba))

(English/ Espanol) ("Farm to Table (in Cuba)) Via the amazing Vermont Carribean Institute's http://www.vtcaribbean.org/ ground-breaking, visionary leadership initiative, the Cuba-U.S. Agroecology Network, http://www.agroecologynetwork.org/ led by the even more super amazing, dedicated USA "Diplomat/Scientist for Agroecology," Dr. Margarita Fernandez. (English/Spanish)

"One of the emergencies facing the Cuban population today is access to food. The location of food vendors (where they got what), the long waits in front of establishments to get in (which imply a greater exposure to COVID-19 due to the crowds), the low availability (not enough for everyone), the rationing of many products , the delayed and cumbersome tasks for those who opt for online shopping, and even extensive walks because the distribution is not sufficient for all neighborhoods, have marked the daily lives of the Cuban people in recent months. (Cuban people call this daily hustle for food and other basic necessities of life: "la lucha" or "the struggle."

It is also an art and can be fun. People help each out along the way! Sharing where you can find this or that. It s part of the culture and the daily routine that people are now accustomed to and is a daily part of life. As one can imagine perhaps it does reduce human productivity a lot. One cannot actually survive in Cuba alone and no one does. In Cuba, people live as an extended family and everyone has their function. This is the only way to survive because unlike how we live in the USA, one person cannot do it all in Cuba. If one does not have family, Cuba does offer amazing social support for people and communities, the elderly and others. It is not clear to me if this support goes into Cuba's most marginal communities however. Also neighbors in Cuba are incredible; they are extended family just like it used to be here in the 1960's when I grew up. People in Cuba have not largely moved since 1958, the Revolution, making neighborhood relationships strong and civil! It is not clear to me if this support goes into Cuba's most marginal communities however.) "Not only do we spend hours managing each day's dishes, but levels of anguish, worries and uncertainty around the vital fact of eating have also increased. (due to the coronavirus)

The right of people to food is included in the “Conceptualization”; the need to achieve greater self-sufficiency from national food production and support for the island's food security is contemplated in the "National Plan for Economic and Social Development until 2030". Both documents were approved in 2017, after a few years for their preparation and discussion, and constitute the programmatic bases of the reform process that Raúl Castro began in 2008, 12 years ago. As then, scrutiny of the agricultural system in the country, is equally vital. Finally, how is it that Cuba can produce more food?

A few days ago, President Díaz-Canel was seen on national television during a meeting with the provincial governors talking about "applying various variants, with alternatives that also allow local management directly with producers and bring products to the market", because "the collection companies, Acopio, cannot be the only ones in this area", he said, referring to the commercialization and distribution of agricultural products.

In effect, "there have always been many complaints from producers with the management of Acopio, especially due to the slowness of the procedure," says Betsy Anaya Cruz, Dr. in Economic Sciences and director of the Center for Studies of the Cuban Economy from the University of Havana, during our interview. He mentions the delay in the collection of merchandise, the long chains of non-payment to farmers and the cumbersome criteria to determine the quality (and therefore the sale price) of products, issues that for years have been reported as dissatisfaction with work of the entity.

On the other hand, adds Anaya Cruz, Acopio workers have also explained their dissatisfactions: that they do not have all the means, that they do not have warehouses, that they take time because they do not have all the necessary transport, or that the producers want to sell as first class products that are second "That is, each one, depending on his position, has his point of view."

The agricultural sector is perhaps the one that has undergone the most transformations in the entire country since 2011. Food sovereignty is a matter of national security in Cuba, and it involves the comprehensive transformation of the Cuban agricultural model, as researchers such as Anicia have stated on numerous occasions. García, Juan Valdés Paz and Armando Nova.

However, so far, the measures have not achieved the comprehensive transformation required. On the contrary, and in the very specific case of the National Gathering Union, the changing rules on commercialization and distribution have subtracted or added, without distinction, centrality to the role of the entity in the whole process, depending on the economic situation of the country at all times.

“At the beginning of the update there was a period in which the collection role contracted, and producers had to sell their production through other channels, hiring a lower percentage of products with Acopio. They had to create markets, sales points, etc. ” In the researcher's words, this scenario did not benefit all producers equally. “During those years, there were producers who benefited, because they had large population settlements nearby, such as the producers of Artemisa and Mayabeque, which flourished during this time of contraction. of Acopio because they have very close to the largest market, which is the one in Havana, and they are in better conditions to face this situation than other smaller producers, "explains Dr. Anaya. In her opinion," an entity like Acopio is an advantage for producers if it works well ”, is an institution that will surely buy most of its productions, a guarantee that many producers in the region do not have who have to compete for the markets. Mechanisms must be designed to stimulate the increase in production and the quality of these. Furthermore, the main task of this entity is to support the state's responsibilities towards Cuban society. Bringing products to the so-called social consumption is to ensure that wineries, schools, hospitals, children's centers, nursing homes, maternity homes, rehabilitation centers, soup kitchens, among other important links in the Cuban program of social assistance, get the food you need every week. The latest rules return to what has been called the "strengthening" of the Gathering Business Group. In the Official Gazette No. 56 of 2019 the legal regulations were published “that implement the decision to maintain and strengthen this Higher Organization of Business Management (OSDE) of Acopio, now as a Business Group subordinate to the Council of Ministers and attended by the Minister of Agriculture ", as reported by the Granma newspaper at that time. After a restructuring of the Ministry of Agriculture that involved the elimination of more than six thousand positions and millions of pesos in wages, now the institutionality of OSDE de Acopio is broader and strong. Even so, with more than 400 State Agricultural Markets and almost 1,200 points of sale, the goal of reaching 30 pounds per capita of food and vegetables every month has not been met, and the latest press reports speak of an average 21 pounds. At first glance, in several municipalities of the capital these state markets are the ones that show the scarcity of these products the most.The supply book, which rationed the consumption subsidized by the state, only covered in 2008 52 percent of the energy, 44 percent of the proteins and 36 percent of the fats of the Cuban population. It was the most important distribution channel of the six existing according to the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), but it was not enough to cover the nutritional recommendations that prevail in Cuba. Since that year, “Food consumption”, the ONEI bulletin through which the availability of food in the country could be evaluated, has not been published. In addition, explains Betsy Anaya Cruz, “the black market meets the needs of a segment of the population, because it depends entirely on the purchasing power of people. It is very difficult to eliminate in situations of scarcity and without transforming rules and some social protection networks that the state makes an enormous effort to maintain, but that in the end partially nourish this market. ”An average of two is spent annually on the island. a billion dollars in food imports. “It is a complex situation. We import various products that could be produced in Cuba; There are studies that say that of the two billion, probably half could be produced here. But evidently that is behind an investment program, modernization of agriculture, a better articulation of these chains, it carries a series of measures that not only go through a greater availability of resources, but to attend to each of those activities with a focus systemic, ”says the economist. In this sector, she says, we also face a contraction in agricultural exports, which is why we assume such a large food bill with a negative agricultural balance and its financing depends on other income in the country, not on what the economic line itself produces. “Gathering does not produce, it markets. In other words, it is a link in a chain that needs comprehensive attention, from production, through profit, industry to wholesale and retail marketing. Furthermore, the services that support this chain cannot be neglected, as well as the regulatory, normative, and cultural environment in which it is desired.

("I Maria Whittaker" have some concerns about this article. While Cuba has what is called "the libretta," a regular periodic (monthly I believe) gift of food items to every Cuban, including such items as bread and one chicken, I was not aware that the Cuban government was "rationing food," as this article says. To me rationing means one can only buy so much of something. Now it is true, that the provision of food is limited; that there is not enough for everyone (even if they had the money to buy it), and that some stores do limit purchases at one time, so that more people will have access to foods, especially imported foods which do make up the bulk of Cuba's foods, to the dismay of Cuban farmers who would very much like to feed thier own people!!! But I was not aware that food was rationed in Cuba. Please correct me if I am wrong.)