Improving the processes of food production and marketing, and establishing policies that remove obstacles to our producers, provide incentives and organize agricultural activity in the country, is part of the same interest: to boost agricultural production and that it reflects in the table of Cubans.
Although it is true that the approval of a greater number of legal norms does not mean that all the difficulties will be magically solved, they do help in the transit towards the defined purpose, since many of the transformations approved last year "were groundbreaking" and opened new possibilities for those who produce and work from sunrise to sunset in the furrow.
The fact is that, if there is a bad contracting with the productive base, non-payments and not stimulating prices to buy the results from the farmers and cooperatives, these problems also have a reflection in the variety of vegetables and other assortments that are marketed to the population.
The laws - explained specialists from the Legal Department of the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAG) - provide a framework and rules to help resolve conflicts arising from legal relations and, specifically, in agricultural matters, the legislative reform provides the necessary organization of the processes, people and technologies involved in the production, transformation and marketing of food until its consumption.
In this sense, the MINAG worked during 2022 in an important group of policies and legal frameworks in implementation of the Constitution of the Republic, the legislative schedule and the measures approved to boost agricultural production, most of them, higher-ranking standards, highlights information published on the website of this Ministry.
An example of this, for example, is the approval by the Council of State and the Council of Ministers, respectively, of the Decree-Law and Decree-Regulation, which implement the policy for the production, development and use of biofertilizers, biostimulants and biopesticides for agricultural use.
Also, Decree 225/1997 on personal violations of the regulations for the control and registration of livestock and pure breeds was updated by the approval of Decree 70/2022, as part of the implementation of the 63 measures to revitalize agriculture, specifically the 28 measures aimed at the recovery of livestock.
Likewise, during the last session of the National Assembly of People's Power, Cuban deputies gave the green light to the Law for the Promotion and Development of Cattle Breeding, which updates a 1974 regulation, and will now serve as a legal basis for the development of a sector that has been depressed for years in the country.
The Law, as explained by the Minister of the Industry, Idael Pérez Brito, will apply to natural and juridical persons who develop, on a permanent or eventual basis, the raising of animals of the different livestock species, regardless of the regime of possession of the livestock or of the land.
However, this regulation is limited to livestock, leaving out the other aspects that make up this economic activity, he pointed out.
This provision also serves as a basis for the development of sustainable, resilient and low greenhouse gas emissions livestock farming, as it favors the incorporation of new knowledge, products and technologies generated from research, development and innovation.
Accordingly, the Law supports the development of validated research results for livestock farming, the use of renewable energy sources in livestock farming, the improvement of the mass control system, the promotion of genetic improvement, and the territorial management of livestock farming and its diversification, among other items.
Another important aspect was the inclusion of ways for the recovery and development of livestock culture and heritage, the protection of natural resources and biodiversity, adaptation and mitigation of climate change and the use of circular economy principles.
FOOD SOVEREIGNTY AND OTHER STANDARDS FOR THE INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT OF CUBAN AGRICULTURE
Achieving the nation's food and nutritional security inevitably involves the capacity for self-sufficiency, which allows having a sufficient and quality livestock mass, but its promotion, development, protection and recovery in the country also needs a legal support that orders and allows a sustainable form of livestock production.
Hence, having approved the Food Sovereignty and Food and Nutritional Security Law in May 2022 was a decisive step not only in the interest of protecting the right of everyone to healthy and adequate food, but also to strengthen and improve the processes that go from production to consumption of food, based on the endogenous capacities of each territory.
On the other hand, given the absence of provisions related to this matter in the Cuban legal system, the new regulation gives technical and legal support to the Food Sovereignty Plan, approved in July 2020 by the Council of Ministers, with the objective of achieving local and sustainable food systems. In other words, all the strategic components of this plan are included in the aforementioned legislation, and it gives it the force of obligations and rights, in its legal instrumentation.
Obviously, providing food is not a matter of this Law, but it will contribute to the stability, availability and access to food, since it will reorganize the processes to facilitate its production, transformation and commercialization.
In addition, its implementation is expected to reduce imports of food, raw materials and inputs, and to guarantee the quality and safety of food.
It is also noteworthy that this is the first legal norm in the country referring to local food systems and their sustainable production models.
In this sense, it strengthens municipal autonomies and decentralization processes, as well as regulates the prevention and reduction of food losses and waste in the food chain, vulnerabilities present in the national territory.
The Law also defines the duties of the different bodies, agencies and entities within the framework of their competencies, with respect to the substitution of food imports, raw materials, inputs and technologies, to ensure domestic production.
Another of the issues addressed by the MINAG during the past year was the strategy for the improvement of the productive bases and, as part of the implementation process, work has been underway since June 2021 on the modification of Decree-Law 365/2018 and its Regulations. The new draft Decree-Law on Agricultural Cooperatives was submitted to the Council of State for approval in this month of January.
Moreover, the policy on the comprehensive management of Cuban agriculture was also drafted, and the preliminary draft of the Decree-Law is under construction.
Likewise, work is being done on updating the Policy of the Turquino Plan, the preparation of the decrees that will implement the policies of Agricultural Extension and Agroecology, which are on the Legislative Schedule for November 2023, and, as the highlight of this year, is the preparation of the Land Law.
Translated by ESTI
