WASHINGTON, March 23, 2016 - A wide variety of farmers
and agribusinesses eagerly watched President Barack Obama’s historic trip to
Cuba this week but the interest was especially high in the land of rice and
poultry.
Arkansas – a state that ranks first in the nation in rice
production, exporting more than 60 percent of that crop – and second in broiler
production, is one of several states gearing up for the economic opportunities
that could come as a result of an improved trading relationship with Cuba.
Last September, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson became the
first U.S. governor to visit Cuba after President Obama restored diplomatic
relations with the communist island nation. On Monday, he spoke to a group
organized by the Cuba Consortium at an event at the Winthrop Rockefeller
Foundation's headquarters on Arkansas' Petit Jean Mountain.
Hutchinson said his trip last fall produced
"historic" meetings – when his group met with the U.S. ambassador in
his residence, Cuban officials were also present, the first time they'd ever
been there.
Located just 90 miles off the coast of Florida, Cuba
represents a "great market opportunity" for U.S. exporters, and
Arkansas in particular, Hutchinson said. "They have the highest per capita
of rice consumption of any place in the world,” he said. The average Cuban eats
177 pounds a year, versus an American’s 46 pounds, he added.
Speaking of rice, he said: “They like our long grains
that we have here in Arkansas… Whether you're talking about trade, tourism, investment
of business, hotels or a whole host of businesses, there is opportunity in Cuba
for investment.”
The governor expressed the view that Cuba, unlike other
Communist countries, is still frozen in time economically. Although there has been some privatization of
enterprises like barber shops and restaurants, he said, "It is still a
centralized control and in my meeting with the Cuban officials they emphasized
to me, and this is their language, 'We have still not forgotten the principles
of the revolution.'" He blamed the
half-century old trade embargo for fostering that philosophy.
Ruben Ramos Arrieta, minister counselor of the Economic
and Trade Office at Cuba’s Embassy in Washington, disagreed. He told Agri-Pulse, "Having that kind of
belief is not having a clear understanding of reality and how Cuba has been
moving in the last 50 years. Thinking that Cuba is frozen in the 50s or in the
60s -- the criteria that the governor has -- this is not our belief. If you go
to Cuba, you can realize that the Cuban people are very proud of my country.
They are always moving forward."
Hutchinson called for the embargo to be lifted gradually,
starting with eliminating the ban on American companies selling to Cuba on
credit. "Businesses should be able to negotiate a transaction if they want
to take the risk," he said.
Cuba Consortium CEO Scott Campbell told Agri-Pulse that his group was formed
about one year ago to provide an honest, candid and constructive dialogue about
normalizing relations with Cuba, “and it just took off,” he said. “Our timing was awfully good, as it turned
out."
Campbell also said he thought the embargo would be phased
out. “Death by a thousand cuts, if you will.
I think that will come; it's a trust-, it's a confidence-building
measure.” But he added the U.S. has to
be willing to open its market to Cuban goods, saying, “If we're not going to
reciprocate, it's going to be hard for us to get much done."
Ramos said under normal conditions, the U.S. and Cuba
would be natural trade partners; by normal, he said he means "to have the
opportunity to buy agricultural products, and to sell agricultural products in
my country in the U.S. market." He named cigars as an example, but also
sugar, vegetables, honey and citrus, as well as Cuba's advances in
biotechnology, saying Cuba has effective medicines to treat diabetes, ulcers
and cancer.
#30
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