Defaults and banking concern farmers in Cienfuegos
The accumulation of unpaid bills to rice and milk producers, along with the problems of banking, emerged as the main concerns of the farmers of Cienfuegos as soon as the debate was opened in the first assembly of the province on the way to the thirteenth congress of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), held at the Credit and Services Cooperative (CCS) Pedro Filgueiras Solís, in the municipality of Aguada de Pasajeros.
Juan Carlos Durán Rodríguez, owner of cattle and land, explained that even though he and his son comply with the agreed figures in the delivery of milk to the Escambray Dairy Products Company, between 13 and 18 liters daily, “for three months they stopped paying us the national currency, and they have never paid us the pending currency for over-compliance.
“By not having this money in time, we are almost forced to decline our duties, because we live from dairy production. This is how we support our families, pay for electricity and invest, for example, in fencing, which is very expensive, since a roll of wire costs up to 18 thousand pesos,” he said.
The debts affect the peasants who are dedicated to growing rice in Aguada de Pasajeros the most, who have been patiently waiting for the Agroindustrial Grain Company to find the liquidity to pay them for four months.
“Last year I went five months without pay, and now the same thing. It is a very difficult situation, because I am a large producer, I own more than three caballerías (one caballería is equivalent to 78.58 hectares or 194.2 acres) of land, with high production costs that are around four million pesos. In addition, I have a family, equipment to fix, and today the repair of a tractor costs between 200 and 300 thousand pesos. I don’t care about the price, ten pesos more or less does not hurt; the damage is that they don’t pay, because that slows down production, and one lives off what one produces,” said Pedro López Izquierdo, who sows rice, sugar cane and various crops.
Despite such problems, the CCS Pedro Filgueiras Solís is currently fulfilling all its plans; however, Taymí Torres Machín, president of the cooperative, notes that the problems with resources and the non-payments of companies cause a significant decrease in production.
“Otherwise, we would have increased rice production, but the reality —he commented— is that we do not see solutions and farmers are very upset with these issues. If in 2018 we contributed 68 thousand quintals (q), in the recent campaign we delivered only 160 tons,” equivalent to 1,600 q.
Caridad Capote Core, deputy director of the Agroindustrial Grain Company, said that her entity requested a loan from the Bank and also hopes that the Wholesale Food Products Company will pay off the 16 million pesos it owes them, so that it can pay the rice farmers.
The absence of the banking authorities in the assembly process prevented light from being shed on another of the issues that concern the members of the CCS Pedro Filgueiras Solís: banking.
“There are no large units here to make extra cash,” said Durán Rodríguez. “You go to the grocery store and there is never any money, the Bank also has no funds, and this is very limiting, because we have to pay for things in cash. Fuel, when it appears ‘under the table’, is 8 thousand pesos cash,” she added.
“We live in a silent zone, without mobile phone coverage or the possibility of using payment platforms; in fact, most of the farmers do not even have smart phones. I think —said Torres Machín— that the country should plan in this regard, because our members do need cash to increase production volumes.”
At the pilot assembly of ANAP in Cienfuegos, on the way to the 13th Congress of the organization, political and governmental authorities from the territory were present, who paid attention to everything that hinders the work of the farmers and praised their commitment despite so many difficulties. Similar meetings will take place in the more than 100 cooperatives in the central-southern region of Cuba, until October 20.
