CAMAGÜEY.—The increased supply of equipment, tools and materials for the agricultural sector, new management measures being implemented and the elimination of bureaucratic obstacles, have left little room for the justifications put forward up until now regarding the difficulty in increasing production volumes.
Such was the conclusion of those reviewing livestock and agriculture development programs in this province, accompanied by José Ramón Machado Ventura, second secretary of the Party Central Committee.
While the territory fulfilled the commitments agreed for the first quarter of the year, it became clear that these are still far from meeting the real demand for agricultural produce in the country, as recognized by a veteran producer, “the plans are still stunted and conservative, there’s no alternative but to multiply the contributions.”
Here there is the example, after a terrible campaign in 2015, of a promising upturn in the production of cow's milk, which has been favorably impacted by weather conditions and improving working conditions at dairy farms.
However, there was full agreement that, if the herd management, animal feeding and reproductive activity are improved, the results could be greater, based on efficiency indicators that support the stable growth of production, without relapses from one year to another.
“Camagüey needs to excel in livestock, but it should also open up, based on results, to other agricultural products,” noted Machado Ventura, also a vice president of the Councils of State and Ministers, in clear reference to the necessary change of mindset among dairy farmers to also produce root vegetables, grains, vegetables and fruits.
According to information provided by the provincial agriculture delegation, to this end work is continuing on the consolidation of ten major production centers and the addition of a further fifty new agricultural production areas located close to reservoirs, micro dams, rivers and streams of the territory.
Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca, first secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, noted that today there is an adequate working environment to deploy the full productive potential of the sector, but the results need to improve, based on higher quality crops and higher yields.
After the meeting, Machado Ventura insisted that only with control, discipline, precision and rationality in the use of resources, can productive stagnation be combated and the agricultural sector be strengthened in order to meet the needs of the population, the food industry and tourism development in the country.
