Diaz-Canel Urges to Increase Agricultural Production in Cuba

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel today urged to increase agricultural production in order to meet the national demand and reduce the expenses generated for food imports.

With a greater productive base, to the extent that we have more production, we will be able to dedicate an important part of the currency used to import food, to acquire inputs to obtain more products, said the head of state.

During a speech at the closing session of the 13th Congress of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), the president also urged to diversify production, despite the obstacles imposed by the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the U.S. government against the island.

Diaz-Canel affirmed that “the imperialist logic they want to impose must be broken, which is to prevent us from having access to resources, in order to suffocate us”.

In this regard, he said that, although much progress has yet to be made to meet the government’s agricultural growth targets, the country is making great efforts to increase and diversify food production.

When we have had fewer resources, plantings have grown; if we hide behind shortages, we plant less, and the reality is different: we are planting more, said the governor.

In the last 13 years, we have at this moment the third largest amount of land with crops and the largest in the last five years, said the President.

Yields are also improving, he said, and referred that “a group of producers, with national potato seed and agroecological techniques, advised by specialists, achieves results superior to those achieved with imported seeds”.

According to him, the production of tubers such as malanga and yucca, as well as plantain, has recently grown, and several municipalities in the country intend to be “self-sufficient in beans” before the end of 2025.

However, he said, the production of vegetables and fruits has decreased, and corn production must increase even more.

If we apply what was presented in this Congress, if we turn the best experiences into generality, into a rule, we will prove that it is possible to move forward, said the Cuban president.