Residents of Camagüey are still waiting for the four pounds of rice promised at the beginning of December, part of subsidized rationed products. The Cuban government struggles with a foreign currency shortage that prevents fulfilling the monthly quota of seven pounds per person, while promoting controversial ideas to reduce consumption and tighten controls on farmers. Experts and farmers argue that investing in domestic production would be more efficient than costly imports.
In December 2025, Cuban authorities promised to distribute rationed products like rice, peas, oil, and coffee to ease family budgets before year-end celebrations. However, most of these items never reached recipients, and the Ministry of Domestic Trade remains silent on December and January 2026 rations. Cuba theoretically guarantees seven pounds of rice per person monthly at subsidized prices, 20 to 30 times lower than the supply-and-demand market. Per-capita consumption is nearly 50 kilos annually, driven by traditions and dietary limitations.
A foreign currency shortage prevented fulfilling 2025 distribution cycles, leaving a debt of over 150,000 tons, equivalent to about $60 million. The government suggests rations are unsustainable and should be limited to vulnerable sectors. On the December TV program “Cuadrando la caja,” an agronomist from the Ministry of Agriculture stated that “Cubans consume too much rice—a habit that should change.” Host Marxlenin Perez Valdes has ties to the Castro family, indicating official backing. Unanimous rejection paused the plans, and 2026 ration books were issued.
Farmers in provinces like Granma, Camagüey, and Sancti Spíritus, where rice has been grown for over 200 years, blame the state's obsessive controls for limiting production, not the climate or resource scarcity. A Camagüey farmer said: “When harvest season starts, this place fills up with bosses who ensure not a single sack is kept from being sold to Acopio, but before that, no one worries about how we get seeds, fuel, or chemicals.”
December's Resolution 186 from the Ministry of Agriculture requires enrollment in registries for foreign currency payments or financing, excluding non-registrants from new management form agreements since 2022, which triple yields by partnering with privates for inputs. Camagüey rice farmer Miguel Alfredo Abelarde reflected: “Instead of so many registries and controls, wouldn't it be better to allocate part of the foreign currency spent on buying rice abroad to producing it here? Until 2018, with the ‘Vietnamese program,’ it was proven that production could cover national demand.”
In the 2010s, with Vietnamese support, production grew 20% annually, exceeding 300,000 tons in 2018, aiming to double it to meet 80% of demand; local rice was 50% cheaper. But resource cuts, promotion of ecological methods, and replacing tractors with oxen teams collapsed output by over 70%, making imports unsustainable. A Sancti Spíritus farmer protested: “There's no way to understand how it can be better to pay 400 or 500 dollars per imported ton, and not 200 or 300 for one grown in Cuba.” Abelarde added that tobacco receives fuel for generating export forex, while rice, for the domestic market, does not.
