Agricultural producers in Holguín update on ordering task
- Written by Ania Fernández Torres
- Published in Holguin
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José Luis Casanova, official of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and Ernesto Santiesteban Velázquez, President of the Provincial Defense Council in Holguín, on Tuesday presided over a meeting with businessmen and producers from this eastern province for the update on new regulations to be applied within the Ordering Task.
Silvio Gutiérrez, director of the Institutional Agri-Food Directorate of the Ministry of Finance and Prices, said that the main objectives of this meeting were related to offering all the elements on the changes in the structures of the costs of products and inputs and the concepts that should prevail when forming the values of productions.
It is important, he said, to listen to all the criteria, assess the situations and problems of the territory to solve them here. There will be issues that we can clarify or we will have to deal with as a concern to work in the Ministry.
He pointed out that it is necessary to know in detail the legal bases that endorse these matters related to the Ordering Task, in which it will also be established legally how to proceed in the case of decentralized prices of some products.
It was highlighted the importance of paying attention to the international market, knowing those values and understanding that when they fluctuate, the values within the country also change.
About 44 products were selected and costs were recalculated, profits were added to compare with the international market. It is vital to reduce costs, remove subsidies and achieve more efficient and competitive producers within the international market.
Participants addressed the decrease in the electricity tariff for irrigation, the solution of the payment of the transport and milk cooling, the recognition of 100 percent of the expenses, including that of the labor force, which is recognized in the costs the effects of the devaluation, the reduction of taxes on personal income to cooperatives and producers, with the guarantee of a minimum exemption, among other important issues.
Increase efforts to achieve greater efficiency
For the farmer Alberto Méndez, from the CPA Adel Calderón in the municipality of Holguín, the most important thing now is to seek efficiency since the impact of losses has been high, mainly in the bean harvest, but the cooperatives involved in planting of this important grain are working to eliminate losses by obtaining higher yields per hectare.
On the subject, Emilio Ramírez, Director of Comprehensive Company of Grains in Gibara, said that lowering electricity and irrigation rates puts producers in a better situation. “We had to take thousands of pesos to losses in January, we received grains from all over the province at the new Velasco plant, we benefited them and incurred double expenses for transportation, and the price is the same as that collected by the Acopio group, however, there are great differences in quality between both ”, he added.
On the other hand, Vismar Leyva, a pig producer who benefited from land for the cultivation of animal feed affirmed that “in the past, producing a kilo of pork cost between 15 and 17 pesos and today it is between 30 and 37 pesos. Fortunately, the price of electricity has been modified because in the pig farm, this month, the bill came to 42 thousand pesos. All these activities cost a lot, we have not been able to increase revolving credit and we need to know how to access liquidity in MLC for inputs and resources.”
Regarding insurance, speeches referred to the effects of the drought in the territory, where about 40 percent of the expenses of the crops are for irrigation and preparation of the land and it is vital that polyculture can be assured, since it is convenient obtaining yields and not sowing two hectares to achieve one, with double expenditure of time and resources.
Miguel Pousada, a rice extension producer from the municipality of Mayarí, asserted that the level of efficiency of the production unit is acceptable, since several of its areas were benefited with the East-West Water Transfer and added that it is needed to produce more than five tons per hectare to achieve profits, which implies better organization, giving value to the work and the money invested.
Regarding this, Julio Cesar Estupiñan said that the solution to reverse negative situations is efficiency, produce seeds, ensure inputs and products that were previously imported or received from the country and this requires a transformation in all cooperatives and production units, with changes in concepts and in the way of management.
“The leadership of the Party and the Government in Cuba reviews these issues every day; we must have confidence and banish the false idea that there are those who do not benefit from this task. There are dissatisfactions, but there are 43 measures to improve the path of the business sector,”said José Luis Casanova.
The ordering is a task of all of us and has an economic component, but also a social and impact, said Santisteban Velázquez, because we cannot forget the effects of the pandemic and the worsening of the U.S. blockade on Cuba, which has led to the scarcity of inputs and resources and has generated effects on income from exports of goods and services.
