With assistance from the project, Cuba’s Cuban Institute of Grain Research has been able to supply 20 percent of the island nation’s rice seed demand, according to the report presented by Lazaro Diaz Rodriguez, Director of the Cuban National Group of Grains at the conference, which was held to review the five-year implementation of the project.
He also affirmed that the project has fulfilled the main targets of improving infrastructure for rice cultivation as well the capacity of organising production and applying advanced farming techniques in Cuba towards raising rice output, easing the country’s dependence on rice import and ensuring food security.
Participants at the conference looked into difficulties and limitations in rice production in Cuba in order to make the cooperation programme more fruitful in the next phase.
Currently, Cuba imports more than 400,000 tonnes of rice annually from Brazil, Bolivia and Vietnam, equivalent to 60 percent of the nation’s total consumption.
