The blockade has been tightened to an unprecedented, criminal level

In view of the effects caused of economic persecution by the United States government, with the blockade tightened to an unprecedented, criminal level, the second secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee, José Ramón Machado Ventura, stated in this city that production of the food the country requires, despite limited availability of inputs, is key to mitigating the effects of hostile U.S. policy.

Presiding a review of agricultural programs being implemented in the province, Machado Ventura insisted on optimum use of all resources, to ensure savings, rationality, efficiency, and finding solutions to difficulties, while noting that whatever is valid now is here to stay, even when times of prosperity return.

He gave as an example the increasing use of biological means to control pests and diseases, and of local resources to replace chemical fertilizers, already standard practice for more than a few campesinos.

The province is committed to growing most of the tobacco produced in the nation, an important source of foreign exchange, as well as continuing to increase production and quality, but it is necessary to do so with higher yields, he noted, as a way of freeing fertile land for food production.

Vice President of the Republic Salvador Valdés Mesa, also in attendance, recalled that, in the strategy approved by the Council of Ministers to confront the effects of the pandemic, food production is cited as the first priority. He emphasized the importance of replacing imports that the country is unable to finance, and referred to measures being implemented to give producers more autonomy in the acquisition of resources, the elimination of unpaid debts, and greater access to credit.

source: Granma