Let them accuse us of xenophobia if they want, but Juan Long Bin, “this intruder Don Juan, or simply Juan as many of us pronounce him, is a bloodthirsty foreigner, the author of a vile prank to end our island citrus tradition, we must act failure every day. In fact, we have done it and continue to silently do it to each of our consumer clients all over this Archipelago when we go on stage and they ask us for a pound of lemon eye face and half of another. This is how they almost always protest, in a bitter procession carried inwards, in a rage that breeds acidity, stubbornness, neglect… and everything that also rhymes with scarcity.

Now attacking Huang Long Bing’s disease just because of the annoying case that there are no citrus fruits and the price of the few that are found is off the charts would be something like throwing away a couch that witnessed infidelity. There are many other thorns dotting this sour path that goes from the plantation and its attention, passing through several arms, to then reach the state market, private stall or wheelbarrow that hangs around the corner.

Already today, if we get angry because they ask us for any product, we will be with the destroyed liver and all the time with gloves. Of course, the theme goes beyond Huang Long Bing, sweet orange or lost lemon, to paraphrase an old nursery rhyme.

Although the measures approved by the Cuban government almost two years ago to increase agricultural production have opened up new opportunities for producers, they have not yet made the long-awaited leap that would somehow ease the tension that is being felt over the balance of agriculture.

At the most recent regular session of the National Assembly of People’s Power, the Minister of Agriculture frankly admitted that, despite all the alternatives applied, in 2022 the planned was not fulfilled in most production areas in a context that is also somewhat legitimate to say – marked by financial constraints and access to the necessary imported resources.

All of this is understandable, but what’s hard to chew on is that the yam, the humble and introverted yam of our viandero, for example, can cost us a pound of it up to 60 pesos – outside of fixed price fairs, of course – if so, what is this product provided in the import technology package is not necessary. Certainly, in the midst of the inflation that we are experiencing today, there are those who make bread, and not quite sweet potato flour, investing super profits in products that should not even be listed on the state market, at such high prices.

The failures of this process are well known: many intermediaries blocking the path between the producer’s furrow and the point of sale, and at the same time insufficient price controls at all levels. Of course, it is impossible to have an inspector for every seller, as one experienced colleague on these issues pointed out a few days ago, but something must be done in the face of such public impunity, abuses and irrational offers in the name of low supply and high demand.

It is lukewarm water, discovered since time immemorial, that a production, a long-awaited production that does not come, may very well be what straightens out a complex panorama. However, there is still something, among unfinished business, like a new novel,
We must make the current dilemmas of most Cubans less bearable, so that their wallets shrink, and for some, not so few anymore, they bulge without much problem.

If today we are really betting on greater autonomy of the municipality as the main space for many productive decisions, it is important that we contribute to further strengthening this scenario, in which verification and control can be easier and more efficient. Yes, because in what many affectionately call the patio, distances tend to shrink better in favor of discipline and the proper functioning of processes. This is where the orange that goes to the farm is closest to own orange tree, tarimero farmer, the real cost of production at a moderate price.

Together with measures to find more products that we so much need, we must cultivate systematicity in daily control, we must fertilize perseverance and rigor from the furrow, from the base, so that it would not be so humiliating at times silent and heartfelt rejection of Huang Long Bing, the seller of lemons or any bitter sweet potato vendor.

Source: Juventud Rebelde