Rice production cooperation fosters Vietnam-Cuba friendship

The Vietnam-Cuba Rice Production Cooperation Program plays a very important role in promoting the production of an essential food item on the Cuban people's tables.

Cuban farmers harvest rice in a field in Los Palacios district, Pinar del Rio province.

More than 1,170 tons of rice have been distributed in the two provinces of Pinar del Río and Artemisa, after harvesting part of the total 1,000 hectares planted with the high-yield hybrid rice variety CT16 of the cooperation project between Cuba and Vietnam, with a yield of over 7 tons/ha.

From atop a dam, keeping his eyes on the newly sown rice fields, Ariel García Pérez, director of the agro- industrial grain company Los Palacios (EAIG), insists that everything is going well.

"The output and numbers speak for themselves. With effective cooperation with Vietnam's Agri VMA company, we have achieved what we expected."

In late 2024, the vast fields in the southern part of this lowland made headlines when they became the first in the country to be granted land rights to a foreign company for exploitation. Ten months later, the Cubanacán rice growing area, the center of the Vietnam-Cuba Rice Production Cooperation Program in Pinar del Río, is showing positive results. In the first harvest, the average yield here reached over 7 tons/ha.

This difference is huge compared to the rest of the Pinar del Río rice-growing region, where yields are currently only around 1.5 tonnes/ha due to a lack of inputs, fuel and spare parts for machinery.

Currently, the total area directly managed by Vietnam's Agri VMA company in the province is 1,000 hectares, which has been fully planted and a large part of which has also been harvested.

More than 1,170 tons of consumable rice have been distributed in Pinar del Rio and Artemisa thanks to this unexpected cooperation. Combine harvesters and trucks continue to harvest and transport rice to the mill.

Director Ariel García Pérez said a new planting season is currently underway in these areas. In addition, the company is working with a group of Cuban farmers on neighboring lands and on the Caribbean farm in the Consolación del Sur district, using a model in which Vietnam provides seeds, inputs and technical advice, while the farmers are responsible for production. This model is in the testing phase and is expected to be successful.

Cuban farmers are happy with the production results.

At the end of July, Radio Guamá reported the story of a farmer from the Abel Santamaría Credit and Service Cooperative in Los Palacios, who harvested about 8 tons of fresh rice per hectare with this new model.

For the EAIG Director, the Vietnam-Cuba Rice Production Cooperation Program plays a very important role in promoting the production of an essential food item on the Cuban people's tables.

Although rice production has increased nearly fivefold, Vietnamese experts still assert that the results so far can be improved.

Engineer Pham Ngoc Tu, Head of the Agri-VMA expert team in Pinar del Río, said that right from the beginning of the project, the two sides agreed on the idea, identified the best points of Cuban and Vietnamese technology, and applied them.

Engineer Pham Ngoc Tu expressed: "We come here not only with an economic mission, but also because of the friendship between the two countries. Nowadays, rice production is very important in Cuba, so we will stay here until there is more rice for Cuba".

vietnamplus.vn

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/hop-tac-san-xuat-lua-gao-vun-dap-tinh-huu-nghi-viet-nam-cuba-post880963.html