U.S. farmers for greater ties with Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 21 (ACN) A delegation of agricultural secretaries and producers from several U.S. states led by National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), the first ever to visit Cuba, reaffirmed that their country can have excellent trade relations with Havana, especially in the agricultural sector.

At a press conference in Havana, the members of the delegation—who thanked the local authorities for hosting them and praised the meeting they held with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel—recognized the impact of the U.S. blockade on the Cuban people, as it prevents food from being exported to the island at the same time as the U.S. imports various items from Cuba.

NASDA president Ted A. MCKinney, president of NASDA, and the secretaries of agriculture of some U.S. states described as useful and profitable the contacts with their Cuban peers, their visits to institutions and production units, and what they learned about both the problems facing Cuban agriculture and the opportunities and facilities that Cuba offers to foreign investors, as well as about the ongoing measures to increase food production.

We are a small country, but not a negligible market; we work to provide food to 11 million Cubans,” Díaz-Canel recently told the agricultural executives, whom he reminded that Cuba has been in permanent contact with, and has often welcomed, U.S. farmers and delegations from that sector.