Cuba and the urgency of encouraging foreign investment in the private sector

The partnership of agricultural cooperatives with foreign companies, as well as foreign investments in the different forms of private agricultural management in Cuba are today an opportunity, but one which is not fully taken advantage of.

According to the latest data from the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAG), as of March 30, 2022, 82% of the land in Cuba is under private management, and 18% under state management. This undoubtedly offers endless possibilities for small and medium-sized foreign partners.

In addition, the private forms of production in Cuba cultivate 96% of root vegetables, 88% of other vegetables, 95% of rice, 96% of sugar cane, 88% of  milk, 93% of sugar, 88% of beans, own 82% of the cattle and more than 90% of the tobacco. The 640 existing Food Production Cooperatives (CPA) own 240,000 hectares of land.

There are 146,000 private landowners, who never wanted to join the CPAs, and who are organized in the Credit and Service Cooperatives (CCS), with more than 2 million hectares of land for food production.

To all this, let’s add that in Cuba 70% of food production is done organically, which represents a plus for international markets, at a time when the consumption of natural and organic products is gaining more and more ground. So, what is holding back foreign investment in a strategic sector for the country, such as food production?

According to Orlando Díaz Rodríguez, MINAG Director of International Affairs, the conditions exist in the country and there could be a space for cooperation in which businesspeople, for example from the U.S., could invest in Cuba together with cooperatives, with companies of the agricultural system and also with micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. All these economic actors can come together in foreign investment projects, as foreseen in the updated Portfolio of Foreign Investment Opportunities in the country.

“We have 57 projects in the Portfolio of Opportunities, all of them aimed at very important activities for the development of Cuban agriculture, for the production of chicken, beef, fruits and vegetables, charcoal, forest products (pine resin) and renewable energies. Today we have established joint ventures. For example, for tobacco production, or the Cuban-Italian joint venture Tropical Contramaestre, in Santiago de Cuba, for fruit production and industrial processing. But the promotion of foreign investment for the non-state sector is still very recent, and we are still working to coordinate these foreign investment processes with the new economic actors,” he explains.

Although everything seems to indicate that this path could begin to open up in the near future. Recently, 25 representatives of the main U.S. agricultural sectors explored the island’s potential directly with producers in the province of Artemisa.

Visting two farms in the western Cuban province, they learned about the reality of sector workers and were in favor of opening new channels of trade and commerce.

Winds of change…

“Hopefully, I can begin to open the lines of communication so that, perhaps, in the future we will have opportunities to open the market here, to have more exchanges for trade. It’s a natural market for the United States, so close geographically, so it could be very beneficial for both countries,” notes Aisha Grisby, International Promotion Manager of the U.S. Rice Producers Association.

“However, we can do much more in terms of exports, but more than that, support producers here in Cuba to increase their production, exchange know-how and also invest in agricultural production here in Cuba,” explains Paul Johnson, President of the U.S. Agricultural Coalition for Cuba.

“We could solve common problems together. The blockade has not worked for 60 years. There are many things we can do for each other, that is why we need to eliminate those barriers. We have the possibility to negotiate on corn and other products that can help the Cuban people. We also know that the Cubans have products that are of interest to the American people.

“It’s been amazing to see the agriculture that you have here, the resilience of the Cuban people, how they are able to produce so much with so little opportunity, because they don’t have access to credit, they don’t have access to a lot of technology. But from what we’ve been able to see, we are very impressed by what Cuban farmers are doing,” says Jon Doggett, CEO of the National Corn Growers Association.

“One of the things that we as dairy cattle breeders know is that Cuba many years ago had a great tradition in the dairy industry and, unfortunately, that industry has suffered the effects of the lack of feedstuffs and the restrictions that the U.S. blockade has imposed. If we can open up some of those restrictions and apply the genetics we have, the climate here in Cuba would be wonderful for those who want to feed cows year-round in an efficient and inexpensive manner,” explains Carl Kent of the Hastings Association.

“If we can do all this, and bring development and technology to our fields and add to it what we already have, we’re a big mine that hasn’t been fully exploited yet. I think we could get closer to really knowing the productivity of our soil, which today is incalculable,” adds Abelardo Álvarez Silva, president of CCS Antero Regalado, located in Artemisa. 

Data from the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture (MINAG) (as of March 30, 2022).

Land use:

    – 82% private forms of management

    – 18% state-owned

Private forms of production in Cuba cultivate:

    – 96% of root vegetables

    – 88% of vegetables

    – 95% of rice

    – 96% of sugar cane

    – 88% of milk

    – 93% of sugar

    – 88% of beans

    – They own 82% of livestock

    – More than 90% of tobacco

The 640 existing Food Production Cooperatives (CPAs) own 240,000 hectares of land.