Havana, Sept. 24, 1997 (Jesus Suñiga, APIC).The Executive Secretary of the Committee of Ministers and State Council, Carlos Laje Davila, said "The most important of all economic challenges among all of our economic difficulties is the production of food for our people."
In the closing statement of the 4th meeting of UBPC (Basic Units of Non Sugar Cane Production), Mr. Lage pointed out that 69% of these entities are losing money and, as a result, the people's food needs are not being met. He made clear that increasing productivity, rather than increasing imports, is the solution to the problem.
In a general evaluation of Cuba's agriculture, Mr. Lage (considered a reformist among the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, surprised the audience by saying that bureaucracy and red tape in Cuba were the main causes of failure of the UBPCs development.
These entities account for 42% of all agricultural land, producing 42% of the country's fresh milk, 46% of the vegetables, 38% of the rice and 22% of all coffee. However, workers complain about not having any guarantees of receiving even basic household needs—their motivation for working for a UBPC. The average UPBC wage is 194.00 pesos (the equivalent to $8.50 US at Cuba's exchange of 1=23). As a result, workers must also toil on their own parcels to provide for their families and earn a decent salary.
What's more, the high cost of caring for traction animals does not make it productive for farmers to keep them. This is another failure of today's agriculture, he said.
After four years, the UBPCs have proven to be a total failure of the Revolution, which trusted them to solve the problems related to people's everyday worst food shortages.