Cuban Act on food sovereignty and safety: why is it necessary? (Focus)

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 21 (ACN) One of the new pieces of legislation to be approved in April by the National Assembly of People's Power is the Act on Food Sovereignty and Nutrition Education and Safety (SSAN), which will be the legal basis for the country's strategic plans in this field.
Twenty-two agencies led by the Ministry of Agriculture, 12 top business management organizations, 11 civil society organizations, academics, scientific institutions, universities and producers prepared the preliminary draft.

The most important thing is that we should understand food sovereignty as the nation's ability to produce food sustainably and provide the entire population with sufficient, diverse, balanced, nutritious, safe and healthy food in order to reduce our dependence on imports, a notion that many might find hard to comprehend under the present circumstances marked by the impact of COVID-19, the intensified U.S. blockade, the excessive global and domestic inflation, domestic shortages, scarce goods and services, and a year 2021 considered as the worst of the last decade for Cuban agriculture.

To this end, a related communication and cultural strategy is underway—albeit not yet with the necessary push—based on seminars, workshops, greater media coverage, and debates with farmers, specialists, officials, students and the population at large.

Replacing imports and developing our own resources at local level are the strategic goals of the National Plan for Food Sovereignty and Nutrition Education (SAN), a major priority nowadays bound to be implemented as soon as the proper authorities give the go-ahead to this bill, designed to regulate the organization of sovereign and sustainable local food systems for the benefit of the production, marketing and consumption of food, as well as to establish a national education system on good food safety practices.

In his recent meetings with representatives of various fields and regions, the Brazilian popular educator Frei Betto argued how the promotion of a culture of good nutritional habits at an early age, in schools, at home and in the community can contribute to reduce Cuban imports, which each amount to more than two billion dollars.

In his capacity as adviser to the Cuban government for the design and implementation of the SAN Plan, Frei Betto stressed that people need to become more aware of this issue and to improve their eating habits, as many still fail to appreciate all the sacrifices, costs and efforts are behind food production.