Cuba struggles to shore up subsidized milk supply for children

FILE PHOTO: Helpers fill bottles with milk to be distributed among people in need at a soup kitchen run by religious group Quisicuaba that is serving a growing number of Cubans struggling to make ends meet amid economic crisis, in Havana, Cuba January 15, 2024. REUTERS/Yander Zamora/File Photo

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba is struggling to secure enough milk for children, a minister said, in the latest shortage putting strain on a decades-old subsidies scheme created by the late Fidel Castro.

Milk deliveries for children aged 6 months to 2 years had been delayed this month, minister of interior commerce, Betsy Diaz, said late on Thursday, though she promised deliveries would begin shortly in smaller quantities for priority groups.

Children with chronic illness, for example, will receive milk but at half their normal allotment, Diaz said.

"What we must convey to mothers who are worried, rightly of course, is that we are working daily to find alternatives," Diaz said on Thursday's nightly newscast.

Milk for children has long featured prominently as part of Cuba`s "rationbook" system introduced after the Castro's 1959 revolution to provide subsidized staples for all.

That system, however, has been plagued in recent years by shortfalls, delays and disorder as economic crisis has handicapped the communist-run government's ability to make good on its commitments.

Diaz said just three of Cuba's 15 provinces were currently producing enough liquid milk to satisfy demand as dairy farm output has plunged dramatically in recent years.

The remaining provinces, forced to rely on comparatively pricey and often imported syrups and powdered milk, were seeing the worst shortages, she said.

Cuba has long blamed a Cold War-era U.S. trade embargo, which restricts financial transactions with the island, for shortages.

Some citizens have noted that small businesses, operating in Cuba since the government's 2021 decision to lift a ban on private companies, have little trouble importing milk despite the blockade and financial crisis.

Diaz rejected that argument, noting that private businesses sell their milk at market value to recoup costs, while the government sells it at "extremely subsidized" prices.

"The state, in advocating for social justice, delivers milk to everyone, but the milk available from (small private businesses) is not for everyone," she said.

The government has said it hopes milk supply will increase in March.

(Reporting by Dave Sherwood; Editing by Marguerita Choy)