Cuban government officials have suggested that citizens change their eating habits to achieve food sovereignty by removing rice and potatoes from the regular diet due to cultivation challenges on the island. In a television program, experts argued that these foods do not adapt well to Cuba's climate and require high investments. The proposal has sparked mixed public reactions amid current shortages.
On the television program 'Cuadrando la Caja' hosted by Marxlenin Perez Valdes, Roberto Caballero, a member of the National Executive Committee of Agricultural and Forestry Technicians, and Jose Carlos Cordobes, Director of Industrial Policy at the Ministry of the Food Industry, discussed Cuba's food crisis. Caballero stressed that potatoes have never adapted well to Cuban territory, requiring massive investments to plant them, maintain appropriate temperatures, and combat diseases. 'And once an Italian told me, quite rightly: Why do you spend so much money on potatoes if you have sweet potatoes, cassava, yams, malanga—and with the money you spend on potatoes you could flood the country with all those products?', Caballero quoted.
Regarding rice, Caballero noted that it has become part of national culture without being realistic for Cuba's context. 'We are not Asians; that is not a Cuban habit', he asserted, suggesting that with shortages, any alternative product would sell at local markets. The host exclaimed: 'Roberto wants to take away even our rice! Jose Carlos, help me with this'.
The officials also addressed factors contributing to low agricultural production, such as the energy situation, the passage of Hurricane Melissa, shortages of inputs, and the US embargo. Critically, Cordobes denounced price caps: 'Farmers' production costs have skyrocketed enormously, and then suddenly we try to regulate them by imposing price caps, and the only consequence is that production stops, because farmers cannot sell at a price lower than what it costs them to produce'.
They further mentioned state non-payments to farmers, bureaucratic delays, and the need to improve financial flows to import raw materials. They highlighted that linkages with private businesses have contributed around 70,000 tons of products. On sustainable agriculture, they warned it must balance with social justice principles, as more expensive organic models could exclude the less affluent.
Caballero acknowledged Cuba's limitations for total food self-sufficiency due to climate, soils, and salinity, but insisted on accepting the country's circumstances, especially under the blockade. The discussion ended with promises of improvements for 2026, emphasizing the need for foreign currency to export and import.
