RIMINI, Italy – During the Rimini Trade Fair, SIGEP 2025, opportunities to meet are multiplying and allow the two extremes of a jagged and complex supply chain like that of coffee to come together. It was an opportunity to meet Cuba’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Nel San Loi Martinez, to take stock of a producing country that has its own peculiarities.
Martinez, what future do you see for coffee in Cuba?
“First of all, Cuba has been a great coffee producer in the past. It had a big production in the 1970s that was mostly for domestic consumption. Today there is a new vision towards exporting this product, at a time when the consumption of local coffee has decreased because young people prefer other beverages. So the idea is to continue to invest in coffee production in terms of quality and not quantity.
We are here with BiocubaCafè, a joint venture between Cuba’s Agroforestal Group, a state-owned entity, Lavazza and AICEC – Cuba’s economic and cultural exchange agency. Our future goal is to position Cuban coffee on the market through its high quality.”
What is the importance of this international collaboration for the future of coffee in Cuba?
“For some time now we have been working as the Ministry of Agriculture with various foreign cooperation agencies, and soon we should also be collaborating with the Italian Development Cooperation Agency on projects that can allow women and young people in the country to stay in the countryside and dedicate themselves to agriculture that is sustainable and allows them not to have to abandon their land.
Cuba is a country that has shown itself to be capable of acquiring a lot of knowledge, and for this reason collaborations at an international level are important, as well as gaining more recognition.”
Some data on the production level of Cuban coffee?
“Cuban coffee is currently moving to a production of between 8 and 10 thousand tonnes and the idea is to enter the international market with volumes of around two thousand tonnes.”
Are there any projects to support small coffee producers?
“This joint venture focuses precisely on the producers to enable them to proceed with their work in a way that is sustainable for both people and the environment. Human capital is a fundamental resource for Cuba, and is almost obliged to respect the forest: there are coffee planting programmes with special care.
In addition, Cuba remains in the hurricane corridor, a phenomenon that has worsened with climate change, and for this reason specific new strategies are being considered to deal with it: this year alone there have been two hurricane passages, one of which hit coffee-growing areas in particular.
Despite this, more than 80 per cent of the affected plants have been recovered thanks to these programmes dedicated to environmental protection.”
Is there an interest of young people in the coffee market, in production and export?
“Yes, the majority of young people living in these rural areas are dedicated to coffee production. The economic opening up of the country in recent years motivates the new generations to continue growing this raw material. Thanks to exports and some dynamics put in place by BioCubaCafè, it is possible to aspire to a future in which many more young people and women will dedicate themselves to this activity.
Giving us the guarantee that in the next 25 years these crops will be followed by new generations.”
