GAF
Ranchers benefit from new marketing measures, but other cracks persist
About 6,285 farmers in this eastern province will receive the benefits of the new measures implemented in the sector for the sale of milk and its derivatives, based on compliance with the delivery plan and other indicators established by the livestock.
The new regulatory package for the commercialization of fresh cow's milk establishes that the purchase price for the collection of one liter from producers is 7.50 Cuban pesos (CUP) and if the peasant meets or exceeds the delivery plan of the month, it is rewarded with 1.50 pesos per liter delivered, reaching an amount of 9.00 pesos. The cattle farmers from Las Tunas do not escape this good news. According to Jorge Luis Hechavarría Lozada, Deputy Delegate of Livestock in the Provincial Delegation of Agriculture, due to the over-compliance of milk there are already 3,689 producers in this territory who sold each liter of the liquid for that higher value. This amount, says the subdelegate, amounts to more than six million 484 thousand 300 pesos granted. Among the regulations that are also implemented is the sale of surpluses to the Dairy Industry. In these commercialization variants, the producer is offered a stimulation in freely convertible currency (MLC) for each liter of milk, a figure that in Las Tunas was adjusted to 15 cents. Hechavarría Lozada stressed that in this section, two thousand 596 peasants from the Balcón del Oriente Cubano can collect milk in MLC, a payment that reaches the sum of 104 thousand 972 pesos in that currency. The modality is gaining new adherents every time, as this inflow of foreign currency will contribute to the purchase and acquisition of raw materials necessary for productive development. However, a few months after the implementation of the regulations, there are some cracks that are detrimental to the objective with which they were created. Payment to these ranchers has not yet been made. The difficulty - according to the subdelegate - lies in the creation of the cards, since the vast majority of the beneficiaries do not have their accounts created and therefore the Industry cannot transfer the credit to them. One of the changes posed by the 63 measures is precisely the elimination of obstacles in the different commercialization processes; however, all the sectors involved must contribute to this endeavor. Promoting more flexible ways and guaranteeing expedited procedures for those who undertake livestock farming here should be a premise, more so, when this can positively contribute to the increase in productions. At this time, the re-contracting of the food continues and efforts are being redoubled in order to achieve the objectives of this calendar. According to Jorge Luis, there is a lot to take advantage of this month and the next, when the productive peak in milk is experienced. Likewise, he reports that the plan to date only reaches 82 percent, with 2.3 million below projections. The most difficult situation - he highlights - is in the municipalities of Manatí, Majibacoa and Jobabo; while "Colombia" and "Amancio" comply and go to the front in the deliveries.
