MIAMI, United States. – A new Resolution in Cuba will allow farmers and agricultural producers to sell the totality of their harvests to the tourism sector without need of intermediaries, according to information published this Thursday by the official news daily Granma.
Resolution 73/2022, published in the Gazeta Oficial on March 30th, establishes that “enterprises, agricultural cooperatives, land owners as well as tenant farmers, and other agricultural producers will be allowed to sell directly the totality of their harvests to entities that belong to the tourism sector or that contribute to the sector’s security.”
The new regulation does not specify which currency can be used for the approved transactions, contrary to Resolution 81/2021, now repealed, which did specify that this type of commercial transaction could only take place in Cuban pesos.
According to the document, Cuban farmers will be able to sell any product to the tourism sector that is not included among those “in the national annual balance approved by the Ministry of Economy and Planning, or those that are traded by specialized enterprises within [the Ministry of] Agriculture’s system.”
Likewise, meat products and its derivatives will be purchased at the authorized establishments only a s long as they meet the current health and veterinary regulations required.
The new legislation comes in the middle of a serious food crisis. During the last years, and aggravated by the pandemic, Cubans have had to stand on long lines to purchase basic food products. In the meantime, the Cuban government’s resources are mostly allocated to the tourism sector, which has been affected by COVID-19 and now also by the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine.
In early February, the Cuban regime implemented a new 10% tax on natural and legal persons that trade agricultural products as retailers.
This on top of the fact that the country imports 80% of food products, and it has had to decrease its purchases for lack of available hard currency and also because of the difficulties that international trade faces due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Recibe la información de CubaNet en tu celular a través de WhatsApp. Envíanos un mensaje con la palabra “CUBA” al teléfono +1 (786) 316-2072, también puedes suscribirte a nuestro boletín electrónico dando click aquí.
