Cuba: Farm Leader Calls for Higher Food Production

Havana, Aug 8 .- The president of the National Association of Small Farmers, Orlando Lugo, called for increasing food production in Cuba to reduce imports.

The association, ANAP, represents private and family farmers.

It is necessary to use all the potential and resolve remaining obstacles in marketing, Lugo told a group of presidents of cooperatives in the central province of Ciego de Avila.

The leader called for increasing production of beef and pork, two areas with depressed production, according to a report by the National Information Agency (AIN).

Production shortfalls in the first half of the year forced the country to spend 23 million USD more than planned on imports.

There were problems in the production of milk, meat, beans and garlic, Lugo said.

During the last five years, Cuba has had to spend an average of 1.5 million annually on food imports.
(Prensa Latina)