Cuban Ag Ministry sets app to sell products to farmers

HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 5 (ACN) The Logistics Business Group of the Ministry of Agriculture (Gelma) will begin to implement in September the payment through the EnZona app in its four shopping centers in Havana, an alternative that provides benefits to producers and facilitates management.

The implementation of this QR code payment method is a pilot test to be extended to other provinces of the country, depending on the results.

Taidi León Arteaga, commercial specialist of Las Guásimas Shopping Center, located in the municipality of Arroyo Naranjo, explained today that producers are initially being trained to introduce them to e-commerce.

Up to now, the payment methods were by check, transfer and POS, but now they will also be able to do it through EnZona, so as not to have so much cash circulating, he said.

Among the benefits of its use is that producers do not incur debts, because payment is made immediately, and they can also take the products at the moment, contrary to what happened with the check, which sometimes had to wait up to 10 days for its availability, she said.
León Arteaga emphasized that it is a much faster way to buy and producers also receive a discount for using this means of payment.

This option makes sales more practical for small producers who no longer have to depend on the cooperatives to make smaller purchases, and also eliminates the percentage that the cooperative pays for its marketing function, said Jorge Luis Arzola Gaínza, director of Empresa de Suminsitros Agropecuarios Habana.

As a limitation he highlights that only purchases of up to 2,500 Cuban pesos can be made and not in large quantities, since this means of payment competes with the demand of cooperatives or large companies that will not use it at first.

In addition, the number of producers who currently have bank accounts associated with the EnZona platform and who will therefore be able to make the payment is small, although it is expected that interest in this option will grow.

Las Guásimas Shopping Center is the largest of its kind in the capital and serves the municipalities of El Cotorro, Arroyo Naranjo and San Miguel del Padrón; due to its extension and logistical capabilities, it is also in charge of supplying what is necessary for rustic crop houses and construction materials throughout the province.

Oscar Machado Baldoquín, head of the center, pointed out that the rustic houses are among the most demanded products and that they are currently being delivered to comply with an agricultural plan to provide 200 units.

The producers have been able to acquire them thanks to bank loans, one of the options that the Government has emphasized the most for the development of agriculture.

Other products in high demand are machetes, files, rubber boots and biological products for fumigation; the supply has remained stable, he said, and although the demand is not always met, the main needs of the productive forms are being supplied.