ES / EN
- May 17, 2025 -
No Result
View All Result
OnCubaNews
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors
OnCubaNews
ES / EN
Home Opinion Columns Counterbalance

Distribute the cake differently

What has been the performance of the allocation of resources to the non-sugar agribusiness and food industry, a sector considered strategic?

by
  • Dr.C Juan Triana Cordoví
July 14, 2020
in Counterbalance
0

Help us keep OnCuba alive

Agriculture is today one of the activities that attracts the attention of Cubans. In the media, on the networks, on the agendas of almost all meetings of local governments and other institutions, the “food-producing sector” is always present.

I believe that never before has so much been written and published on the agricultural sector, dozens of articles and hundreds of pages of comments, reports on “successful cases” and strategies implemented, on future plans and, logically, on all the difficulties facing the sector, associated with financial restrictions and the damage the U.S. blockade causes to food production in the country.

There is not enough time to read it all. Magnificent press reports, informative scientific articles, many of them very well informed, in official media or not, which even contain proposals on “what to do.” They range from problems associated with the standards and regulations that “weigh” on the sector, problems associated with research, development and innovation (R+D+I) and their implementation, to proposals on how to improve quality and quantity of what is produced and the forms of marketing, the role of local production and marketing, the role of the different “means of production” and the importance of agroecology to decrease our food dependency. I don’t think another sector has gotten as much attention in recent years and especially in recent months. It is only surpassed by the attention and follow-up of the evolution of the pandemic.

It is also very present in the daily life of each Cuban, in their mind and in a great deal of their “work day” and, logically, in their dreams. Thinking, or thinking about agriculture while sleeping, either directly or indirectly, is becoming part of everyday life and produces sensations and feelings for the average Cuban such as despair, uncertainty, rage, stupor, perplexity, insomnia. The food-producing sector has managed to change the basic rules of arithmetic, thus the fact that all members of an equation have a positive sign does not necessarily guarantee a result of the same sign.1

The non-sugar agribusiness and food industry, with an emphasis on integration with the primary agricultural sector, was identified four years ago as a strategic sector2 of the Cuban economy along with ten others—perhaps too many for such a small economy—that already had at the time and still has three great problems: an excessive food dependency, a high energy dependence and a deep structural weakness of its external sector, which manifests itself in a high concentration in markets and products—also in the case of services—, and in low and medium technology products. This combination, excessively harmful, has accompanied us throughout our history, since colonial times, but it is still critical today.

Related Posts

Photo: Erickxander Spengler.

Of incentives and marabú charcoal

April 18, 2025
Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez

Of distortions and development

March 24, 2025
Photo: Kaloian

Can Cuban export revenues increase?

February 22, 2025
Photo: Kaloian

Knowing the government program

February 7, 2025

Undoubtedly, the non-sugar agribusiness and food industry, with an emphasis on the integration of the industry with the primary agricultural sector, are more than described as strategic if they meets the criteria used to define those sectors, namely: they represent an important proportion within the level of economic activity in the country; they make it possible to produce and export added value based on an abundant and highly competitive natural resource; they have a positive and significant impact on the balance of payments…due to their ability to substitute imports; they allow developing the productive fabric of the country generating chains backwards…and forwards; they have a strong relevance in the domestic market in terms of job creation, supply of demands and regional and local economies; they directly and indirectly impact the generation of productive jobs; they favor the connection with new technological paradigms at the international level and the diffusion of advanced technologies within the productive apparatus; they make it possible to overcome logistical or infrastructural limitations, contributing significantly to raising the efficiency and competitiveness of the economic system or increasing labor productivity; they contribute significantly to sovereignty and national security; they have a favorable impact or don’t have a negative impact on environmental sustainability.3

Yes, this is a strategic sector, very decisive, almost a question of life or death to achieve the vision of the country, so that Cubans feel prosperous, since the relationship between “uncertainty” and the lack of prosperity in a stomach is direct and proportional, although of course it is not reduced, far from it, to that only.

What has been the performance of the allocation of resources to this sector considered strategic? To what extent has it been prioritized in relation to other sectors?

Let’s go to the data:

Source: ONEI, Statistical Yearbook of Cuba 2018, Chap. 12, table 12.7.

*Caption:

Agriculture, Fishery, Sugar: Investments (millions of pesos)

Agriculture, Livestock, Hunting and Forestry

Fishery

Sugar industry

Total in all sectors

Agriculture: Participation in total investment (%)

Fishery: Participation in total investment (%)

Sugar Industry: Participation in total investment (%)

Despite having been identified as a strategic sector, the first thing the data confirm is that the flow of investments to the sector did not change substantially in terms of its participation in the total. Is it possible to drastically change a sector with relative backwardness without allocating an increasing amount of investments? What can be said in the case of fishery?

For that same period, these three sectors, all decisive in food production, compared with disadvantage in relation to other sectors of the national economy.

*Caption: 

Participation of chosen sectors in Investment 2013-2018

Total (millions of pesos)               Participation in total investment (%)

Manufacturing industry

Electricity, gas and water

Construction

Transportation

Business serv. and real estate act.

Public Administration, Defense

It is true that the country has moved in recent years towards a greater restriction of resources, logically including investment resources; however, it seems necessary to rethink their allocation, since while in the tourism sector (business services and real estate activities) it is much easier to find foreign investors interested in undertaking those projects that are now financed with national resources, it doesn’t seem to be the same in the case of the agricultural sector.4

With greater incentives for the private and agricultural cooperative sector and promoting other forms of farming, the necessary amounts of investment to get the sector off the ground could also be reduced, but it is not possible to expect a significant change without a substantial injection of investments,5 especially machinery and equipment appropriate to the needs of what is the most important force in this strategic sector, which produces the largest volume of food in the country: the private farmers, cooperatives and usufructuaries (the non-state sector) who have in their hands 80% of the island’s cultivated area.

From the furrow to the table: removing obstacles and obstacle-makers in food production in Cuba

Regarding the import of machinery and equipment, while 326.9 million dollars were dedicated in 2015 to the import of special machinery, for which 99.5 million dollars went to the import of various types of agricultural machinery (horticultural and forestry machines, tractors and harvesters and threshers), for 30%, in 2018, of the 255.3 million dedicated to these imports, the amount destined for agricultural machinery reached 17.1 million dollars, that is, 17%. It is also true that, at times, the degree of use of agricultural machinery leaves much to be desired.6

Let’s say that the fourth that was previously dedicated to investment in hotels is dedicated to the creation of productive capacities in agro-ecological farms. Today, 15 to 17 tons of potatoes per hectare are obtained in our country through agroecological methods. Let’s imagine a thousand farms with two hectares distributed throughout the country, how much can be achieved! It is true that the yields are not those obtained with the application of the traditional technological package, but the costs are lower and the product is healthier and closer to consumers. Can it be done?

Convinced of the strategic nature of this sector7 and that there are limits to the possibility of increasing the availability of total resources, what only remains is to distribute them differently. Is it not necessary? Is it not possible?

 

Notes:

1 Let’s review the feature articles from the beginning of the year on the sector (in the last five years) and let’s compare it with the results.

2 Conceptualización del modelo económico y social cubano de desarrollo socialista. Plan de desarrollo económico y social hasta el 2030: Propuesta de visión de la nación, ejes y sectores estratégicos. Page 26 numeral 244.

3 Conceptualización del modelo económico y social cubano de desarrollo socialista. Plan de desarrollo económico y social hasta el 2030: Propuesta de visión de la nación, ejes y sectores estratégicos. P. 25-26, numerals from 223 to 232.

4 Unfortunately, the Statistical Yearbook of Cuba does not offer a breakdown by sectors of investment in its different components (Construction and assembly, equipment, others) that would allow an analysis from another perspective.

5 In the period 1960-1975, the share of agricultural investments reached 33% of the country’s total investments, while in the period 1976-1990 those investments were 24.4%.

6 Also sometimes what is imported is not what the agricultural producer needs, or those imports don’t take into account Cuba’s conditions of exploitation, causing breakage rates that conspire against a better use of the equipment.

7 It would be even better to identify the really decisive industries within it.

Help us keep OnCuba alive

  • Dr.C Juan Triana Cordoví
Tags: Cuban Economyfood production in Cuba
Previous Post

Areas of Havana with outbreaks of coronavirus no longer in phase 1 of de-escalation

Next Post

Cuba today with six new cases of COVID-19

Dr.C Juan Triana Cordoví

Dr.C Juan Triana Cordoví

Next Post
Photo: Yander Zamora/EFE

Cuba today with six new cases of COVID-19

Photo: https://www.coronaviruspreventionnetwork.org

U.S.: First COVID-19 vaccine shows encouraging results

Coastal floods in Ciego de Ávila. Photo: invasor.cu

Climate change would cause 14 Cuban settlements to disappear by 2050

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

The conversation here is moderated according to OnCuba News discussion guidelines. Please read the Comment Policy before joining the discussion.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Most Read

  • The Enchanted Shrimp of the Cuban Dance

    2959 shares
    Share 1184 Tweet 740
  • Trump Administration Includes Cuba on List of Countries Not Cooperating Against Terrorism

    18 shares
    Share 7 Tweet 5
  • Who could be Cuba’s next president?

    16 shares
    Share 6 Tweet 4
  • Cuban economy, the “regulations” and the shoe

    20 shares
    Share 8 Tweet 5
  • Cuban private sector has not weakened; on the contrary

    9 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 2

Most Commented

  • One of the new photovoltaic solar parks being installed in Cuba. Photo: Taken from the Facebook profile of the Electricity Conglomerate (UNE).

    Solar parks vs. blackouts: between illusions and reality (II and end)

    14 shares
    Share 6 Tweet 4
  • Solar parks vs. blackouts: between illusions and reality (I)

    16 shares
    Share 6 Tweet 4
  • The “Pan de La Habana” has arrived

    32 shares
    Share 12 Tweet 8
  • China positions itself as Cuba’s main medical supplier after signing new contracts

    28 shares
    Share 11 Tweet 7
  • “Pingueros en la Habana “: a revealing study on male prostitution in Cuba

    41 shares
    Share 16 Tweet 10
  • About us
  • Work with OnCuba
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Moderation policy for comments
  • Contact us
  • Advertisement offers

OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions.
OnCuba © by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors

OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions.
OnCuba © by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}