Cuban Government Shifts Food Production Responsibility to Citizens Amid Ongoing Crisis

Amid a severe food crisis and years of government failure to ensure adequate food production and supply in Cuba, the regime is now transferring greater responsibility to municipalities, businesses, and producers to generate the food needed by the population.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz led a national seminar aimed at training state officials, local governments, and business groups on implementing the economic reforms approved by the regime. The focus was primarily on agricultural production, domestic trade, and municipal autonomy.

This "training" is part of the 176 economic and social reforms announced in June. The gathering was attended by Esteban Lazo Hernández, President of the National Assembly, and Salvador Valdés Mesa, Vice President of the Republic, both members of the Political Bureau.

Central to the seminar was the issue of food production. Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Tels Abdel González Morera, highlighted the approval of the new Agricultural and Forest Land Law (Law 185/2026), which allows state-owned idle lands to be leased to small and medium-sized enterprises (whether state-owned, private, or mixed) regardless of their social purpose, and removes the requirement for prior direct work.

The law also permits contracts with no limits on area or time, extendable for an equivalent period. "Land can be leased without limit as long as the applicant can demonstrate capability through the project they present," explained González Morera.

The official also emphasized the importance of reaching grassroots producers: "We must continue training every producer because these transformations reach them. If the producers, who are the fundamental link in this task, do not benefit, the agricultural producers won’t either."

The day before, Official Gazette No. 75 came into effect, containing 19 agricultural sector regulations, including Decree 161/2026 on the marketing of agricultural and forest products.

In terms of domestic trade, Minister Betsy Díaz Velázquez introduced a new policy that consolidates all existing sales modalities in the country into a single legal provision. "It is a modern policy that encompasses everything related to trade in one legal provision. It defines what wholesale and retail trade is," she asserted. The regulation also defines electronic commerce as a sales modality for the first time.

Marrero Cruz made it clear that opening up to private actors does not mean the state is stepping back: "All the decision-making we are implementing through these transformations, where there is greater participation from all non-state actors, let's call them private, does not mean that the state or government is disengaging. All these measures that liberalize and expand non-state activity come with guidance."

The underlying logic is revealing: the regime, unable to ensure food security for the population after decades of absolute state control over land, is now transferring production responsibilities to private entities and cooperatives, yet without relinquishing land ownership or political control over the process.

The extent of the crisis prompting these measures is evident in the data: a 2025 survey revealed that 33.9% of Cuban households reported at least one member went to bed hungry in the previous 30 days, and 94.9% of respondents experienced some degree of loss of access to purchasing food. Cuba relies on imports for 70% to 80% of its food consumption.

As the seminar concluded, the regime announced that 155 of the 176 reforms already have legal frameworks for their implementation, with another 17 expected to be finalized by the end of September.