Martín Alonso Gómez is a “studied” farmer with great knowledge, who speaks of circular economy with the same ease as the tomato production cycle.
Moreover, he speaks the same on his farm El Placer, for those who come in search of data about sustainable agriculture, as for officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Investment (MINCEX) in a balance of this activity in the province.
The latter happened on Thursday, when the Department of Foreign Trade, Foreign Investment and Cooperation of the Government of Ciego de Ávila analyzed the results of the work during 2021 and Martincito, as everyone calls him, spoke of the impact of the Tropical Fruit Trail, a dream on the way to materialize.
Some 20 farmers from the area between Majagua and Ciro Redondo will start planting the first of the 1,000 hectares of fruit trees included in the project in the spring on idle lands freed from marabou. "The idea is not only to process that fruit in mini-industries, but to create a space for nature and even health tourism."
His intervention happened and connected with that of Dr. Annery Cruz Rodríguez, director of Medical Services, an entity specialized in offering health and quality of life services to foreigners. The network of healthcare centers made it possible for revenues to exceed 85 percent of what was planned for the period in 2021, but the board spent more time presenting the projections, including the recovery of spaces such as thermal baths, mud therapy and the use of sulphurous waters.
Such over compliance allowed Ciego de Ávila honors (and adds up to 30 percent more) the plan in values. Some of these were the care of tourists sick with COVID-19, online sales of the medium-sized private company Media Luna and the economic actors associated with the export pole, which is run by the Ceballos Agroindustrial Company. The 136.1 million dollars entered last year represent an increase of 17.5 million, compared to 2020, despite the debts from the harvest, the Bioelectric and the export of charcoal.
On this last line – the Balance report, presented by Wilfredo Reyes García, the department's main specialist – specifies the almost paralysis of international maritime transport due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the container deficit. For its part, the export of raw materials, although it complied with the financial plan, did not achieve the expected volumes of aluminum, electronic articles or stainless steel scrap.
Presided by Governor Tomás Alexis Martín Venegas, and Carlos Luis Jorge, Director of Foreign Investment of MINCEX, the individual analysis of Ciego de Ávila exportable items gave the opportunity to “open” the global data. Thus, the applause for Tabacuba in the territory for exceeding the beneficiary layer implied, in turn, the call for attention for not contributing the same in twisted tobacco.
The Habanero hot pepper is consolidated as one of the main exportable items from Ciego de Ávila. Photo: Ileana Sifonte
Also bittersweet is the balance of the Mixed Compny Ron Vigía S.A. due to a year and a half after it was established, it was able to export 75,000 liters of bulk rum, but not bottled rum. Its vice president, Yaibexi Marrero, explained the setbacks with the packaging line, as well as the non-execution of part of the money destined for investment.
The packaging is a stumbling block on the way to export and desserts in syrup and guava bars have suffered, however, in other lines what is missing is greater production or optimal quality, such as pineapple, in the first case, or fresh avocado, in the second one.
In general, the territory began 2021 with 33 goods in its product portfolio and closed with 91, including 61 goods and 30 services, included in the Export Map. Of the total, 65 are in promotion, 23 in development and three consolidated.
Another great fence of the activity governed by the MINCEX is the bureaucracy and the backlog in some procedures. After Humberto Fleitas Portal, director of the Majagua Petroleum Production Base Business Unit, referred to the delays in environmental licenses for the exploitation of new wells by the foreign company that invests in that area through an International Economic Association, Carlos Luis Jorge insisted on the sense of urgency that must motivate businesses with the participation of foreign capital. "We cannot lose a day," he stressed.
Fleitas Portal had already stated that its 2021 plan could barely be executed 50 percent and how the delay in permits delayed the drilling of wells for the second quarter of this year. "We must reciprocate the interest of investors, because what we do now will depend on whether we will achieve extraction volumes close to one million tons by 2030."
• The Cuba-Petroleum Union and the Australian company Petro Australis Energy Pty Ltd signed on September 11 two international economic association contracts at risk within the framework of Law No. 118 on Foreign Investment. The object of the contracts is the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons and their shared production in partial onshore block 21 A, located in the province of Ciego de Ávila; as well as the increase in crude oil production in the Pina and Brujo fields, in operation since the 1990s of the last century. Source: Cuba Oil.
With years of experience in the field of exports, Domingo Escalante Pérez, Director of Foreign Trade at Agroindustrial Ceballos, has mastered the network of activity requirements and can now concentrate on promoting the possibility of exporting from the Jardines del Rey International Airport. . This route, studied and almost put into practice, will allow your entity (and the actors that orbit in the export pole) to lower costs for transportation and enter more strongly into the fresh produce market.
MINCEX officials appreciated some of the products from the province's export portfolio and others that could be incorporated, including those from the CCS Ricardo Maning and the enthusiastic Martín Alonso
"The company is ready to export tomorrow from the cay," he said with complete confidence, although he acknowledged that, in the medium term, it would be necessary to create other refrigeration capacities in case of unforeseen events, for example.
Zaida William Cabarroca, head of the Department of Foreign Trade, Foreign Investment and Cooperation, recognized the contribution of Agroindustrial Ceballos at the head of the export pole, as well as its role in managing new items, including red mamey, eggplant, cundiamor, aloe vera and moringa leaves and pods.
MINCEX officials appreciated some of the products from the province's export portfolio and others that could be incorporated, including those from the CCS Ricardo Maning and the enthusiastic Martín Alonso.
The toughest year of COVID-19 in Ciego de Ávila was a period in which international cooperation materialized on several fronts. The balance of the activity accounted for six specific donations worth about 279,000.00 euros, destined to support three local development projects, and another for medicines and medical supplies received by the Doctor Antonio Luaces Iraola Provincial General Teaching Hospital.
Likewise, the department audited donations of food and food supplements, in addition to contributions in money and in kind from natural persons, projects, companies and organizations.
However, just as the province receives, it also gives. In 2021, 1,104 Ciego de Ávila collaborators provided services in 36 countries, mainly Health, Dr. Annery Cruz alleged. On the other hand, 114 foreign scholarship holders are studying Medicine, among them a majority group of Congolese in this province.
With a complete structure of 16 officials, which includes specialists in each municipality, the Department of Foreign Trade, Foreign Investment and Cooperation of the territory managed many achievements in 2021. Despite the limitations associated with confronting the pandemic, they sustain the coordination and the highest management of the country has defined training work of the economic actors, in the consolidation of an “exporting vocation”.
Focused on seeking the liquidity needed by the national, provincial and municipal economy, in the conclusions of the balance, both Carlos Luis Jorge Méndez and Governor Tomás Alexis Martín Venegas referred to the importance of working quickly and adhering to Cuban regulations for the foreign investment, to be creative in the proposals of business portfolios and exportable products, and not to stop in the face of possible obstacles.
At the close of the meeting, they received recognition from the hands of the presidency, for their results in 2021, the medium-sized private company Media Luna, the Provincial Directorate of Sports, the Reinaldo Maning Credit and Services Cooperative, the Cuban Association of Agricultural and Forestry Technicians, and the Export Pole, represented by Agroindustrial Ceballos.