More efficient food distribution?

“Acopio,” the system that organizes the purchase and distribution of about 90% of Cuba’s agricultural output, will no longer be overseen by Cuba’s agriculture ministry but by the domestic trade ministry. A brief report on state-run television explained that by reassigning this duty, the agriculture ministry will be able to focus solely on production without distraction with other tasks and meanwhile, the number of state produce markets will almost double, from 156 to 300.

This is one of several moves by Havana in the last several weeks to increase efficiency, but is also an important initiative simply in terms of the state’s ability to provide for its citizens. Currently, Cuba is forced to import 60% of the food it consumes, much of this from the United States. Raúl Castro has been critizing the inefficiency of the Acopio system since long before his presidency: in a 1996 open letter to the Minister of Agriculture, he stated that one-fourth of the agricultural commodities intended for distribution under the state system for Havana residents in April of 1991 were rotten and had to be discarded. Just this year, media attacked Acopio for allowing part of a bumper tomato crop to rot in the fields for lack of containers and transport to cart it away. Fixing such issues would significantly increase the amount of food available to Cuban consumers at state prices.

The next issue to address will be the 1/3 of farmland on the island that is owned by the state and currently lies fallow.