Cuba is about to pass a food sovereignty law that places local food production as the protagonists of food production.

For the first time a regulatory framework engaging all actors involved in food production but which places the territories as the fundamental scenario of the actions, said Mayra Cruz, legal director of the Ministry of Agriculture.

At a press conference the director explained that the law of Food Sovereignty and Food and Nutritional Security allows consistency with what it is stablished in the Constitution of the Republic and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

She pointed out that the law defines new work structures and refers to issues such as food safety, foreign investment, communication and nutritional education and agro-ecology among other issues that previously presented a legal dispersion.

The Plan for food sovereignty and nutrition education in Cuba was approved in July 2020 by the Council of Ministers on which, the substitution of imports and the development of endogenous resources of the territories are defined as strategic axes.

To increase food production and meet the unmet demand for agricultural products, the government approved 63 measures in April last year, including financial incentives and the simplification of bureaucratic procedures.

Cuba implements several plans to increase food production and mitigate the dependence on imports, which currently amounts to $100 000 million annually, including municipal self-sufficiency and family farming.