Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Havana, Nov 23.- In what socioeconomic context is the production of the country's food industry developing today? What are the fundamental challenges you face? What alternatives are being sought to achieve growth and sustainability in this area?
Some of these questions guided the appearance at the Mesa Redonda of the Minister of the Food Industry (Minal), Alberto López Díaz, who elaborated on one of the most important social responsibilities that this industry has: guaranteeing the regulated family basket.
When speaking in the television space, López Díaz referred to how economic conditions and current social challenges affect this sector. “We are not exempt in the food industry from the economic and socioeconomic complexities that the country is going through, and as an organization that has an important weight in one of the main priorities and needs of our people, which is food, this negatively affects our results. ", said.
The minister said that the energy situation and the fuel deficit have seriously affected the functioning of this industry. “This year we have received only 48% of the planned fuel, which is equivalent to approximately 3,000 tons per month. Of these, we dedicate 200 tons just for the collection and distribution of fluid milk on a weekly basis. This means that we dedicate 800 tons of fuel monthly to this fundamental activity,” he explained.
According to López Díaz, another crucial activity is the production and distribution of wheat flour for bread in the basic supply rationing, which is also affected.
In that sense, he pointed out that currently, only wheat flour is produced in Havana and we transport it from Pinar del Río to Guantánamo, covering all distribution networks in the country's municipalities.
He added that the industry sustains its production fundamentally with electrical energy, and the deficit in its generation, the tense situation that is currently being experienced, further complicates the ability of this industry to fulfill our mission.
Likewise, he said, we face a financing deficit in convertible currencies. “We have two fundamental sources of raw materials: endogenous production, which includes agricultural products, milk, fruits for the canned industry, beef and pork; and imports, such as milk powder and wheat, which are essential to meet the needs of the sector. The decrease in exports and the intensification of the blockade, with marked financial persecution, also negatively impact our results,” he noted.
“It is important to put a face to the blockade, as it is often seen as a slogan or justification,” the minister emphasized.
“Since we have been in the Ministry of the Food Industry, we have experienced the reality of these measures and the cruelty of this blockade. For example, we belong to international organizations where we have fish quotas and have had to move fish from Africa to Cuba, with businessmen asking that we not disclose their names or company types for fear of reprisals. We have also brought fish from Europe, passing through three ports in China, which makes distribution more expensive.
“We have had problems in a mill in a mixed company in Havana, IMSA, which has been paralyzed for twenty days because we have not been able to acquire a small part that is in the North American market. Right now, we are having a hard time hiring a ship to transport the wheat, despite having the money available. This complicates our bread production cycle,” he exemplified.
He added how “recently, this month, we attended to the director of a fisheries research center that has relations with the country's Fisheries Research Center, and that contributes to training personnel and training masters and doctors. He traveled to Cuba to recruit potential students; However, upon returning to his country, he could not do so due to restrictions on his passage because he was passing through the United States, having to reorder his trip through Europe. These types of situations, which occur in the present, show how the blockade affects the food production environment and makes it difficult to meet our objectives,” he said.
This whole context, he added, has had a negative impact on the sector. We have practically not fulfilled the plans we set for this year and we have decreased in several important productions, said the minister.
He said that last year, of 22 selected productions, it decreased by 20; This year it is not met in any of them, although there has been a slight growth in 7 of those 22 productions, such as beer, tomato paste, aquaculture, although it is still insufficient for the country's needs.
He said that the financing deficit is one of the factors that hits the hardest: of the 43 million planned for the purchase of raw materials, spare parts, bread production, maintenance and repair of the boilers in the dairy factory, only was able to grant seven million, which represents 9% of the planned total.
“This creates enormous difficulty for the performance of the sector. The people, and all the State administration bodies, are affected by the complex scenario that we live in today, no one is exempt, but the Ministry of the Food Industry suffers particularly as it has a special responsibility in feeding the people and in their contribution. to the regulated family basket, a priority issue for the Cuban government,” he noted.
Regarding the supply of the food industry to the Basic Supply Rationing, the fundamental products it provides and the complexities it faces to fulfill that commitment, López Díaz explained that although the mission of the Ministry of the Food Industry is in the industrial production of foods and beverages As well as in fishing, this ministry has a great social mission related to the basic basket, which includes several products that it is responsible for producing and that must reach the people every day such as milk and bread.
“The ministry is responsible for the basic ration, which includes oil, milk, soy yogurt, compote, beef, chicken, canned meat, fish, coffee and bread, for example. mention a few. In the midst of these complexities, such as the lack of financing and the timely arrival of imported raw materials, agricultural raw materials that are not met with the limitations that this sector has today, we are trying every day to find solutions," he said.
He said that it is important that our people know the effort that the Cuban Government makes to guarantee the availability of this basic family basket. I can assure you that the highest leadership of the Revolution, namely the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and president of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and the prime minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, evaluate this matter practically every day.
“Unquestionably, this entire environment is complex and failure to meet our goals hurts us. For example, today we have five essential products for which we have responsibility: powdered milk for children and pregnant women's diets, chicken, oil, soy yogurt and bread. Monthly, we must dedicate more than 33 million dollars to guarantee these five products. This means that we need approximately $1.1 million per day to ensure its availability.
“Without trying to justify the situation, it is important to illustrate to our people what demands we need to be able to satisfy the availability of these products. For example, a ton of milk powder costs between $4,700 and $4,900 right now, while in November 2018, that price was between $2,600 and $2,700. This shows that prices have doubled. After covid-19, we have also faced an increase in international prices due to global conflicts, which further complicates the situation of a country like ours, which is limited and blocked,” said the minister.
He explained that Cuba needs 1,800 powdered milk monthly to guarantee the feeding of children, special diets and pregnant women, just for the family basket. This represents a cost of 8.5 million dollars per month, just for milk powder. I must point out that this year we have had some delays, and although we have defended and guaranteed the feeding of children from zero to two years old as a prioritized age group, we have not been able to guarantee powdered milk for children from two to six years old in the provinces who receive powdered milk.
Fluid milk is received in Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Havana, Santiago de Cuba, Granma and Guantánamo, while the rest of the provinces depend on powdered milk, which is consumed throughout the country by children from zero. one year of life, he said.
For soy yogurt, which is guaranteed to children from seven to 13 years old, $1,500,000 per month is required to produce what reaches 819,000 children daily, 12 bags of yogurt per child per month. This year, due to the lack of soybeans, we have been able to deliver only four bags of soy yogurt per month, instead of the established 12.
Regarding oil, the minister pointed out that a ton costs approximately 1,829 dollars, and 4 million dollars per month are needed to guarantee supply to the entire Cuban population. This year we have had non-compliance in the delivery of oil for five months.
Chicken costs 1,300 dollars per ton, and we need 4.7 million dollars per month to guarantee supply to the population. In addition, we have the responsibility to supply the health sector, education and other essential services, he said.
Regarding bread, the minister noted that “we have had to reduce the ration from 80 grams to 60 grams due to the lack of raw materials. To guarantee the bread in the basket, today we need 425 tons of flour daily with this consumption standard, while previously we required 800 tons. A ton is around $400 or $500 in the nearby market, but freight costs make transportation time much more expensive.
He added that this reduction in grammage has been made because we do not have the necessary financing or ships that arrive on time, but it is an indication from the country's senior management to return to 80-gram bread as quickly as possible.
More than 13 million are needed monthly to guarantee bread, even with all the problems that we know persist in its quality. Despite the challenges, the oil for bread production is 100% guaranteed, he said.
As for compote, we have the responsibility of supplying it to children up to three years old, and we have been delivering 545 tons per month.
In summary, to guarantee these five basic products, we need 33 million dollars per month. Most of these products are subsidized by the State and do not generate income in foreign currency, they are to satisfy the needs of our people, López Díaz stressed.
This year, he said, there are 44 million liters of milk of the 326 million that are planned, which have not been possible to collect due to various factors in agriculture.
The minister pointed out that enormous efforts are made and work is done every day to solve these problems and guarantee quality food for our people, and in that sense he recognized the role of the more than 100,000 workers belonging to the food industry.
“The basic basket is a priority for this ministry, and we spend a lot of time looking for solutions and facing challenges: how a dairy factory collects milk that is often acidic because there is no power in the thermos, due to delays in fuel for collection. , or because the raw material arrived at the industry but there is no electricity and therefore this production cycle impacts the quality of the product. We do not have powdered milk, then, to reconstitute and restore the quality of that milk, which is milk that does not arrive in a timely manner as fluid milk and has to be used for another type of production,” commented the minister.
The daily efforts are not minor to ensure that wheat flour reaches all the bakeries in Cuba from the Havana mill, despite the difficulties in transportation and resources, he said.
He recognized that there are also subjective factors that negatively impact the results. “Sometimes this depends on the work of our cadres and their capacity, as well as their political sensitivity and acting differently in the current conditions in which we find ourselves.”
Commenting on the rest of the productions, the minister said that despite the complexities, there are reservations and potentialities. “There are capacities in all provinces; We have a dairy, meat and fishing industry, as well as coffee, among others, with a total of more than one million tons in productive capacity. Where is the problem? "That we don't have the raw materials."
He also recognized that the population has a lot of dissatisfaction with the results of fishing. “As we have discussed before, we do not have the amount of fish on the platform, but neither do we have the capacities, due to limitations in fuel, boats and other elements. The lack of fuel has limited us from capturing 5,000 tons, and we have well defined that. “We are betting on the cultivation industry.”
He added that there is potential in aquaculture. “Today, the catch has grown by more than 700 tons thanks to a fingerling stocking program that began three years ago.”
At another point in the television program, the minister commented that production chains have been key to the revival of the industry. In this sense, he stressed the importance of alliances with the non-state sector, given the lack of foreign currency. “We have more than 200 productive links with the non-state sector. Based on an analysis we carried out, it was found that in the first half of the year alone, non-state forms of management have imported more than 500 million dollars. If raw materials had been brought, production would have multiplied.”
He valued the recent meeting with private businessmen very positively. “We can report that, thanks to the chains, we have produced more than 31,000 tons of food, although we know that this does not satisfy the needs of the population.”
“Prodal and the Cuban Bread Chain are good examples of cooperative production between the state and non-state sectors. This combination allows costs to be lowered, which has an impact on the final price of food. We know that we are very far from what we can achieve.”
He also referred to the fact that in our country there is a policy of distributing food diets associated with different medical conditions, as well as to prioritized centers such as schools and centers for children without family protection. (Text and Photo: Cubadebate)
