Cuba Prioritizes Food Production During COVID-19 Outbreak

The contribution of the Cuban food producers to the national economy and to the consumption of the population in these times of pandemic has become more than strategic, it is essential.

Cuban farmers are contributing to the national food production to alleviate the economic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the island.

According to Rafael Santiesteban Pozo, President of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), the contribution of the Cuban food producers to the national economy and to the consumption of the population in these times of pandemic has become more than strategic, it is essential.

According to the agricultural leader, in addition to guaranteeing products for the state, the Cuban countrymen are in solidarity with the health institutions and isolation centers, which are fighting to stop the spread of COVID-19. The producers of the Frank País cooperative donated food to the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine. Similar help was given to medical centers in the provinces of Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, and Ciego de Ávila.

Santiesteban Pozo also stressed that Cuban farmers not only provide food to the population during the current crisis but also implement strategies to guarantee it in the long term. He also said that the authorities in the sector are evaluating the productive possibilities of the more than 194,000 landholders.

"One of the country's main challenges is to comply with the Municipal Self-Supply Plan. The goal of this plan is to ensure that enough food (food, vegetables, grains and fruit) is produced at the municipal level to supply the people."
 
He added that all forms of agricultural production are activated, both in urban and rural areas, depending on the use of each space for production.

"The use of biological means, micro-organisms and animal traction in the efficient development of crops, and the use of every piece of land, however small it may seem, are of great importance in these times, when not only the new coronavirus is attacking, but also the US blockade against the country is intensifying and drought is increasing," he concluded.