US blockade on Cuba affects its agriculture

 CIENFUEGOS, Cuba, Oct 29 (ACN) With several years as a specialist in seed production, Jesus Negrin has enough elements to assess as enormous, the damage that the economic blockade of the United States government caused, in more than six decades, to agriculture in the Cuban central province of Cienfuegos.

Today, when the draft resolution against the U.S. economic, commercial and financial blockade against the island is being debated in the United Nations General Assembly, the expert in seed promotion, with decades of knowledge in all agricultural work, will be attentive to the discussion.

In declarations to the Cuban News Agency, he explained that the greatest effects due to this opprobrious policy are concentrated in the acquisition of fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides to achieve ideal crop yields.

He indicated that in order to buy these products they have to purchase them in other regions farther away in the world, which increases the cost of the product and the freight for its transportation.

The Report of Cuba, by virtue of resolution 78/7 of the United Nations General Assembly, entitled “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba” July 2024 is the document that illustrates the damages to the country in all sectors.
Specifically, in the agricultural sector, the Cuban denunciation argues that between March 2023 and May 2024: “The historical yields of several crops have deteriorated notably by almost 40%, due to the lack of fertilizers and pesticides”.

The report adds that due to the lack of these inputs and the decrease in the yield per hectare, almost 238,000 tons of viands, more than 171,000 tons of vegetables and thousands of tons of fruits were not produced in the Caribbean country.

Farmers in Cienfuegos are looking for alternatives to this situation, such as the production and use of worm humus, organic matter and other biopreparations, although applying these inputs to large extensions of crops such as the Horquita agricultural company, with vast productive areas, is quite cumbersome.
According to the specialist of the Provincial Delegation of Agriculture in Cienfuegos, they are also affected in the purchase of equipment, such as tractors to plough the land, and trucks for the transportation of the productions.

In this regard, the Report on the blockade states that there is a deteriorated stock of agricultural equipment, whose average age is 30 years, which reduces their yields and benefits. The document also states that “part of the vehicle fleet used in the commercialization of products is on average 40 years old”.
As a seed expert, Negrin cannot fail to point out the need to obtain seeds resistant to pests and diseases, drought and lack of inputs, even mentioning the existence of hybrids and foliar fertilizers, very necessary for the Cuban agricultural sector.

He complained about the tyranny of the U.S. blockade on the island and asserted that every aspect of this economic and financial attack damages food production, because if this scourge were eliminated, it would result in a better quality of life for Cubans.