"The re-ordering is everyone's task; it touches everyone. Even those not working, because now they need to do so," stated Party Central Committee Second Secretary José Ramón Machado Ventura, during a meeting in Pinar del Río, to evaluate the impact that the far-reaching economic process has had on the agricultural sector.
In an exchange with Party leaders and government authorities in the province, officials of the agricultural system, outstanding producers, presidents of cooperatives and directors of enterprises, Machado reiterated that the Ordering Task has as its basic objective making changes to address a number of problems that have affected the economy for years, insisting "For this reason, we must achieve this, at the national level, it has had results."
Machado noted that the meeting was part of a series of meetings to be held in all Cuban provinces, to determine what is happening in this strategic sector, and to detect issues that generate concern.
Lourdes Rodríguez Ruiz, deputy minister of Finance and Prices, referred to a group of corrections recently approved, based on interaction with the grassroots.
Among these is the decision to maintain subsidies for four items (rice, corn for animal feed, industrial tomato and Robusta coffee), to ensure that costs do not exceed the regulated retail price.
She explained that the costs of aviation services for spraying and water used in rice cultivation have also been readjusted.
Likewise, a specific electricity rate has been established for irrigation equipment; the price of domestically produced animal feed was reduced by 60%; and payment for milk collection and delivery to processing facilities were recognized as costs borne by dairy farmers.
