MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cuba for the first time names agronomist as Minister of Agriculture

Gustavo Rodriguez Rollero must cut Cuba’s dependency of food imports

Cuba has removed General Ulises Rosales Toro as agricultural minister and made him a technical adviser for the island's sugar, agricultural and food production industries. A government statement Saturday characterized the move as a promotion for Rosales. He remains a member of the powerful Politburo.

Rosales was Cuba's sugar minister until taking over the Agriculture Ministry in 2008. Replacing Rosales is 46 year old agronomist Gustavo Rodriguez Rollero. According to a note published on Saturday by Granma newspaper, Rodríguez Rollero, who was the First Deputy Minister of Agriculture, holds a degree in agronomy.

The note points out that this decision will enable the Vice President of the Council of Ministers, Ulises Rosales del Toro, now freed from his responsibilities as Minister of Agriculture, to devote his whole attention to the ministries of Sugar, Agriculture and Food Industry, in charge of the production of food in the country.

Decades of state-run mismanagement have crippled farming in Cuba where a tropical climate should be conducive to crops.

President Raul Castro has spent years decrying the over 1.5 billion US dollars that the country annually spends importing food.

Since taking over from his ailing brother Fidel, Raul has tried to boost domestic food production by giving farmers land formally in the hands of the state and encouraging them to grow and trade geared by free market principles.

However most inputs and trade channels remain under bureaucratic control and have impeded the development of the whole potential of the rich Cuban soil.

The naming of the new minister can be considered a step to further liberalization of the food production sector.