For Cuba’s Deputy Prime Minister Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca, food production goes through two fundamental principles: training in the new models of economic management and the sense of belonging that producers and managers must have.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- Tapia Fonseca visited the municipalities of Puerto Padre and Majibacoa over the weekend. Besides checking the preparations for the next sugar harvest and the implementation of measures to boost agricultural production, he exchanged with workers and managers from both sectors, as well as from the food industry and gastronomy, among others.

In Puerto Padre, the debate led to the need to rescue traditions inherited from our ancestors that can contribute to the achievement of food sovereignty. The Doctor of Science, Sergio Rodríguez Morales, director of the Tropical Foods Research Institute, spoke about the benefits of cassava and its usefulness for making bread, sweets, and cookies, and announced the delivery of five tons of wheat flour daily by the United Nations Food Fund.

Fermín Ricardo Pedrón, who worked with Commander in Chief Fidel Castro during his last 10 years of life, urged the introduction of the cultivation of sacha inchi or Inca peanuts to obtain oil and medicines rich in Omega.

The local participants agreed on the need to materialize these experiences in the production units, and elaborate quality food.

Regarding the next sugar harvest, the deputy prime minister made it clear that the industries must prepare well or they will not mill, and pointed out that "they have to do it with maximum efficiency."

During the dialogue with a part of the group from the Majibacoa sugar company, he directed a reevaluation of the strategy based on the mistakes of the past campaign because the country has among its main objectives the export of sugar. This industry must be ready by November 15 and the fulfillment of the province's production plan depends, to a large extent, on its good performance.

At one point, the meeting became a group management exercise, and the interactive exchange with the producers showed a lack of a sense of belonging, knowing the causes of why high yields are not achieved from the cane planting, and constant training from the study of science and technology.

Tapia reaffirmed that continuous communication with sugar and agricultural producers is essential to ensure that each one complies with what they have to do as a fundamental way to achieve the food sovereignty to which the country aspires.

“I believe that the most important thing is to find spaces to exchange with workers differently, with practical examples, which is part of what was done here, and to apply good practices in management and innovation techniques”, he said in statements to the press.

“We have to face the challenge of training administrative leaders and workers in an efficient economic management model, based on the 63 measures approved for agriculture and the 93 for the sugar industry; and everything could be summed up in each worker and workgroup having a greater sense of belonging, also associated with the payment systems that are applied, to be more efficient”, he concluded.