Cuba is on its path toward food sovereignty and is planning to expand its rice cultivation areas by 200,000 hectares by next crop year as per the reports by the archipelago an agricultural source. The president of the Agricultural Group of the Ministry of Agriculture, Orlando Linares, reported in Mayari, a municipality in the eastern province of Holguin. The president of the agricultural group further said that this major undertaking has been mandated by the country’s top leadership.
In context of increase in the rice cultivation area by 200,000 hectares the available water for the program’s implementation in 14 provinces, 133 municipalities, and 23,000 producers will be determined next November. Large companies and specialized centres in the territories of Pinar del Rio, Villa Clara, Sancti Spiritus, Camagüey, and Granma will plant half of the planned hectareswhereas the remainder areas will be planted with so-called popular rice. The planting will be supported by domestic seeds, whereas the Vietnamese side which has decided to participate in the program will also contribute its own seeds.
In 2024, rice production in Cuba halted its decline. Although it reached 30 percent of what it achieved in 2018. According to the source, six years ago, 304,000 tons of rice were harvested, approximately half of the demand in Cuba.