The Cuban authorities have urged farmers to increase food production to supply the demands of tourism and of the domestic market.
Independent producers answered the official appeal, launched over the weekend, by saying that "the island's agricultural production increase depends on the Cuban state."
On Monday, The Granma newspaper published statements made by the second secretary of the Communist Party, Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, on Sunday, urging farmers to produce more.
"We must grow, a little or a lot, but we can not decrease," said Machado Ventura. He also said that they didn't have all the resources that were needed.
The government's priorities, he said, are supplying the demands of tourism and domestic consumption.
Independent farmers surveyed by Marti News have a different opinion about the situation of the island's agricultural production.
"Everything in Cuba is of the state, so all the agricultural inputs and the whole development of agriculture depends on the state. I think the state should take the first steps to make this happen. Farmers strive and work hard because they are required to do it, not for the revolution or to fulfill a plan. Farmers work hard because they have to support their families," said Rolando Pupo, a farmer from San Juan y Martinez.
"The authorities have to abolish the cooperatives. They have to let farmers be part of a free market, where they can be autonomous and decide what to plant on their land, how to market their products, and what price to ask for their produce," he added.
A reader of the online edition of Granma, who identified himself as Boris Reyes, said that he clearly understood what Machado Ventura had said, but that they needed to implement methods to increase production.
The official call comes at a time when, according to the Government, Cuba is about to import nearly 1.8 billion dollars worth of food in 2017.
According to Reuters, the problems faced by the Cuban agricultural sector in mid 2016 slowed the island's economic growth, which declined by 0.9 percent in 2016.
Farmers complain about not having a bank and that much of their production goes to feed tourists and not to Cubans.
"The mango, guava, and other fruits end up in the hotels, affecting domestic consumption," said Ivan Gonzalez, a farmer in the province of Villa Clara.
"It is unrealistic to think that we will increase production when they don't support the farmers. How can there be a production when there is no agricultural bank to do projects - like help farmers dig a hole, build a mill, or finance a turbine?" he asked.
Emiliano Gonzalez, a farmer from the province of Granma, spoke about his current challenges, and said that Cuba didn't have a wholesale store to buy inputs.
"Right now I am watering a small crop of tobacco we have cultivated. And where are the inputs? We have no inputs, we have to buy fuel on the black market, the herbicides on the black market. We have to buy everything on the black market, so the production in Cuba is practically unprofitable," he said.
Source: martinoticias.com