Havana: Cuban Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa has urged the country’s agricultural sector to adopt biomass, firewood and solar energy as alternatives to fossil fuels as Cuba grapples with a severe fuel shortage that has disrupted farming operations.
During a visit to agricultural sites in Mayabeque Province, Valdés Mesa reviewed the impact of the fuel crisis on food production and called for greater energy self-sufficiency in the sector, Cuba headlines reported.
“Enterprises must secure their own fuel. We are moving towards an energy transformation. We have biomass, we know how much firewood we can use, and we must make greater use of solar energy,” he said, according to state media.
Accompanied by provincial officials, the Vice President visited SemBiot, a state-owned biotechnology enterprise involved in plant propagation and agricultural research, as well as agricultural farms in San José de las Lajas, Güines and Melena del Sur.
The government is promoting renewable energy as a long-term solution to reduce agriculture’s dependence on imported fossil fuels and improve resilience in food production.
Cuba has attributed the worsening fuel shortage in part to U.S. sanctions. However, the crisis has also been linked to structural weaknesses in the country’s energy sector and a sharp decline in oil supplies from Venezuela.
The fuel shortage has severely affected agricultural production. According to official estimates, more than 96% of agricultural micro-enterprises have suspended operations due to the lack of fuel, while diesel prices on the black market have risen sharply.
The crisis has forced many farmers to revert to traditional farming methods, including the use of oxen for cultivation and windmills for water pumping, as fuel shortages limit the operation of agricultural machinery.
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) declared a humanitarian emergency in Cuba’s agricultural sector earlier this year, while the Cuban government has acknowledged that its fuel reserves have been exhausted.
Valdés Mesa said expanding the use of biomass and solar power would be essential to sustaining agricultural production as the country seeks to reduce its dependence on conventional fuels.
