Cantillo is also the coordinator of the Segrano project, which is implemented in the country to improve the agricultural extension system in the production of basic grains, with the technical assistance of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA, committed to contribute to the food sovereignty of the island.

Cantillo assured that in the case of beans, Cuba guarantees with the national production the quantities demanded by the basic family basket, while in the case of rice, some 400,000 tons (more than 50 percent of the national consumption) are still imported because this crop needs many resources, machinery and technique for its development.

It is not a secret, he pointed out, that producers plant without having guaranteed the complete technological package for this crop due to the limitations imposed by the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States, for the purchase abroad of fertilizers, insecticides and other inputs.

However, the country is strongly working to generate high-quality seeds and develop multiple high-yield varieties of rice, beans and corn, for which the Segranos project in cooperation with the JICA are decisive.

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