Despite successfully sustaining, in recent months, the deliveries of this program in the province of Ciego de Ávila, the planting of decisive crops is still below expectations.

Although the territory of Ciego de Ávila as a whole during the period from January to May 2022 register an average monthly compliance of 3.32 pounds (lb) per capita above the established indicator of 30 lb, this does not mean that in all types of crops is achieved equally, knowing that these numbers are well below a highly unsatisfied demand in quantities and prices.

In particular, the section on viands deserves a more attentive look, especially in the so-called rustic crops: cassava, sweet potato, malanga and banana, even with figures lower than those required.

The current spring campaign, until the end of the fifth month, was only 89 percent fulfilled in these lines, which has affected the fact that the sowings from March to May were located in the irrigated areas occupied by the potato, which they have had a late release due to delays in the harvest, away from their optimal cycles, which also caused losses.

On the subject, Salvador Valdés Mesa, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Party and Vice President of the Republic, pointed out, in a meeting to review this program, that it is not about fulfilling the plans, but about planting all, without exception, the necessary crops.

The deficit of 1,035 hectares (ha) from spring to the end of May, out of a total plan of 9,287.8 ha, not only responds to the aforementioned cause and other objective ones, such as the constant rains and the limitations in the deliveries of fuel, but also others of a subjective nature.

Liván Izquierdo Alonso, member of the Central Committee and first secretary of the Party in the province, affirmed that it is inconceivable that during the analyzes, some of the Agriculture officials in the municipalities are unaware of the areas in existence of various crops.

“There are lands, water and producers, but we have to get the extra from the champions, because we have become accustomed to fulfilling a plan and nothing more. It cannot be that Ciego de Ávila lacks rustic crops with the amount of land delivered”, he added.

The weight of the territory in the agricultural production framework transcends its geographical limits due to its enormous conditions and potential. However, there is still work to be done in order to fully guarantee the food sovereignty plan. “The province lacks 6,000 hectares of the crop fund to meet this objective. It is necessary to make investments in soils of categories One and Two, with the aptitude to produce the selected crops”, Diosnel San Loy Martínez, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, emphasized.

Another of the topics analyzed was the construction of livestock modules of which, of a plan of 211, 71 percent is established. "Here it is not about the number of modules, but the number of species and their mass, to provide more meat to the people," Valdés Mesa said.

A very depressed indicator for these farms, because of the purpose of 5 kilograms (kg) of animal protein per month per capita, currently only 0.482 kg are recorded.