14ymedio, Havana, 16 February 2024 — Drop the “inertia” and “be nice” were the instructions given this Thursday by Miguel Díaz-Canel on his tour of the municipality of Consolación del Sur, in Pinar del Río, as part of his official tour of the regions of the Island that “do not work well.” Between scolding for the lack of commitment and the inefficiency of industries that are not looking for “alternative” means to replace imports, the president touched on a sensitive issue in the country’s critical panorama: the shortage of milk.
During his visit to the Camilo Cienfuegos Genetic Livestock Company, the managers explained to Díaz-Canel, between justifications and mitigating factors, that at the end of 2023 the industry had a debt of 50 million pesos for failures in the delivery of milk. This January, following the trend, the dairy met 87% of the plan.
The president’s response was emphatic: the country finds it “impossible” to acquire the nutrients that the animals need
According to the managers, the poor feeding of livestock is one of the fundamental reasons why the more than 90 cows of the company barely produce 0.8 gallons of milk a day when it should be 1.6 gallons. The president’s response was categorical: the country finds it “impossible” to acquire the nutrients that the animals need, so the food has to be obtained domestically. To begin with, he said, the company should seed its inactive lands with protein plants, an alternative that so far is “insufficient.”
“We want to move the country forward, and in that purpose doing everything we can for ourselves is vital,” Díaz-Canel said to the farmers, to whom it was clear that, contrary to what the president said, they must find “alternatives” on their own.
The terrible situation of milk delivery also forced the Minister of Internal Trade, Betsy Díaz Velázquez, to appear on Cuban Television on Thursday. At f