HAVANA, Cuba, (ACN) – On Monday in the presence of Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, first secretary of the party central committee and president of the Republic, the assessment of the ministry of domestic trade (Mincin by its Spanish acronym) for 2024, Manuel Marrero Cruz recognized the hard work of the organization to contribute to the quality of life of the people in the midst of great limitations.
“For an efficient trade for the people, with greater quantity of goods and services, quality and more affordable prices,
“ said Cruz, member of the political bureau and prime minister in Havana.
This is especially, because guaranteeing, for example, the standard family basket depends on the supplies coming from agriculture and the food industry and the well-known financial limitations, and as a video with the main results of the year points out, the deliveries of fluid milk, sugar, coffee, eggs, beef and salt were not fulfilled.
It is important that they have identified the government program aimed at boosting the economy, he told the Mincin executives, referring to how by 2025, for each of its objectives, concrete goals have been set to achieve a more efficient trade.
In this sense, he oriented to continue working on the improvement of the local subordination retailer, to consolidate good practices in this regard, and to demand compliance with the established rules and regulations by all the economic actors that provide services.
Given the fact that in 2024 the retail trade circulation was only 84 percent and the sales of goods and gastronomic services decreased, Marrero stressed the need to eliminate all the distortions existing in the business and private sectors, for example, regarding prices and leasing of premises.
Demanding consumer protection and ensuring the improvement of the image of the establishments were other of the prime minister’s calls, in addition to recalling the leading role of the agency in the conduct of trade, while it is up to local governments and entities to implement the country’s policy. He also indicated to strengthen the wholesale trade as the main source of supplies for the retail trade, without losing the essence that the most assured foodstuffs are those of national production since the currency is not available.
Speaking along with executives of the agency and several provinces, Betsy Diaz Velazquez, head of Mincin, mentioned among the purposes for 2025 to ensure compliance with the retail trade circulation, and greater effectiveness in contracting with the productive forms in order to ensure the standardized family basket.
Meanwhile, with a focus on potato planting, small livestock processing, animal feed production and the assembly of one of the photovoltaic solar parks with the highest generation capacity in Cuba, the northern municipality of Remedios is consolidating as an important economic pole in the central province of Villa Clara.
The Agroindustrial Enterprise of this territory currently cultivates more than 40 hectares (ha) of potatoes, both domestic and imported, the former with a yield of 17 tons (t)/ha and the latter with a yield of 22.5 t/ha.
The company also buys and processes small livestock, with an average of 30 animals per day, and is working on the construction of a mini-industry that will produce four tons of canned food per day.
Likewise, in the Dolomite Mine, belonging to the Remedios Basic Business Unit (UEB) of the company Geominera del Centro, alternative productions of animal feed and other products are being carried out, in agreement with the Central University “Marta Abreu” of Las Villas, for the development of poultry, commented Yenny Caballero Rodriguez, director of the UEB.
On the other hand, the photovoltaic solar park of Rojas is in the last phase of execution, which intends to be connected to the National Electric System this March and will save the country 9,000 tons of generation fuel per year, said Eduardo Perez Reyes, general director of Villa Clara Electric Company, to the press.
Reyes added that this investment, approved for 650 million pesos, will have 42,500 solar panels, installed in 1,638 tables, each with 26; it will have an extension of 32 hectares and a maximum power of 21.87 megawatts (MW).
The Rojas photovoltaic park is one of three currently under construction in this central province, where there is already a smaller capacity installation in the community of Las Casimbas Santo Domingo, with 4.4 MW of energy.
