The contracting of water to producers of the agricultural sector advances in the province of Las Tunas, both for livestock activity and for various crops; taking into account compliance with hygienic-sanitary measures, as established by the current epidemiological situation.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- Precisely, the increase in COVID-19 confirmed cases has prevented the conclusion of the process, which is at 92 percent, as reported by Alexis Torres Martínez, director of the Hydraulic Exploitation Company.
“The process has been more agile in the municipalities of Puerto Padre, “Jesús Menéndez,” Las Tunas, and Majibacoa, and the greatest delays are reported in “Amancio,” “Colombia,” and Jobabo; but we intend to finish it in the middle of August.
“We make the contract with individual farmers or with the forms of production that group them, to speed up the agreements. But it is happening that we arrive at the places and the producers do not go, for different reasons. That has happened especially in Manatí.
“The importance of contracting is still not fully understood, and without water can be no production. Even, during these days, the supply to a unit that refused to pay for the service was suspended.”
So far, contracts have been established with 207 individual producers, 82 productive forms, and 1,319 associated producers; that figures respond to the joint will of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH) and the Ministry of Agriculture to stimulate the production of various crops, grains, fruits, vegetables, meat, milk, tobacco, sugar cane, and honey.
Last April, the Cuban State announced 63 measures to promote the recovery of agriculture and livestock, and one of the most widely accepted has 
been the reduction of water payment rates, retroactively, from January 2021, when the Ordering Task started.
"That is the intention, to help the fulfillment of production plans by stimulating producers, with prices that benefit them, and motivate them to increase plantings and breeding, so that they have more income and higher yields.
“Reductions in the payment for water services were established for all agricultural lines; but the most significant - due to its economic value - is in rice, a crop that demands a greater quantity of the liquid to reach the harvest stage.
The cost of water destined for rice fields was reduced by 32 percent and the rest of the lines, by 22 percent. The cost of the liquid extracted from underground basins was also modified from 17.50 CUP to 7.50 CUP per thousand cubic meters.
Although the price of water is lower now, saving measures must be maintained for better use of this important resource, taking into account that Las Tunas is one of the driest provinces in the country, with an annual average rainfall of 1,038 millimeters.
