It would be great to hear our politicians see agriculture in the way Castro describes it in this quote! But even declaring food production as such an important priority, current structures and policies have actually increased the money going to importing food, decreased production effeciency, and still leaves farmers skeptical of the government's programs. There have been failures on the part of government's mismangement and poor guidence, like on price setting for particular crops or lack of access to capable vehicles for effecient transportation. The government gives acres of land free of rent to farmers on ten year leases, and it just became permissible for farmers to live on the land, but they are looking for indefinite or 99 year leases and fear at any minute the government will take the land back if they need it f
President Raúl Castro has made agriculture priority No. 1
in his attempt to remake the country. He used his first major presidential address in 2007 to zero in on farming, describing weeds conquering fallow fields and the need to ensure that “anyone who wants can drink a glass of milk.”
No other industry has seen as much liberalization, with a steady rollout of incentives for farmers. And Mr. Castro has been explicit about his reasoning: increasing efficiency and food production to replace imports that cost Cuba hundreds of millions of dollars a year is a matter “of national security.”