Cuba frees regulations on cattle ranching

For those who conduct unauthorised killings of cows in Cuba, the law imposes penalties of up to 10 years in prison, but after being in place for several decades, this could change.

The Cuban government announced on Wednesday a package of measures to boost the agricultural and livestock sector, including the possibility for breeders to slaughter and market their own animals, especially beef.

Since the 1960s, after a drastic fall in the population of livestock, the Cuban Government passed a law which prohibited the slaughtering of cows and selling of beef.

To get around the law, owners of animals did not declare all their calfs at birth or pretended their cattle had an accident in order to slaughter them.

They then sold their meat in secrecy on the black market.

The Cuban government reports that it spends more than $2 billion US dollars on food imports to compensate for the lack of production on the island.

But this figure is not sustainable amid a decline in income caused by the new coronavirus and US sanctions.

Farmers who complain about excessive control, bureaucracy, and too many restrictions imposed on produce, have welcomed the move.

"We are going to benefit because we are going to be able to kill the animal ourselves, have and eat meat produced by ourselves and this is going to be beneficial," said Hennry Salabarría, a 44-year-old cattle farmer.

The new measures were authorized by the Cuban government's cattle commission, which forecasted the change would not result in a substantial decrease in the cattle population.

While some food producers are waiting ambivalently to assess the impact of the changes, many others are pleased to see this long-awaited development finally become a reality.