President Miguel Díaz-Canel chaired a high-level meeting of the National Innovation Council (CNI) to approve a strategic plan that introduces new technologies in the sugar sector. The initiative seeks to reverse the decline in production and transform this historic industry into a modern economic engine.
The vice president of AZCUBA, Mariela Gallardo Capote, presented the project “Introduction of new technologies for the increase of sugar production and its derivatives” aimed at boosting exports through technological, financial, and organizational improvements. The plan addresses critical challenges: obsolete infrastructure, climate vulnerability, and labor instability. Gallardo emphasized the importance of redefining the sugar industry present in 50 municipalities across the country.
Dr. C Jorge Núñez Jover suggested that the project must include a careful approach to the transformation of communities where the sugarcane industry operates. He stressed the importance of considering local and provincial development strategies, incentives for producers and residents—even those not directly working in the mills—and, in general, anything that promotes repopulating rural areas through a sense of belonging.
With innovation as its core, Cuba’s sugar industry—culturally and economically significant for over 500 years—could reclaim its role in the nation’s future.
(With information from Presidencia de Cuba)
