Cuba denies risk of famine in wake of hurricanes

Oct 6, 2008, 19:32 GMT

Havana - Cuba is not at risk of 'famine' after hurricanes Gustav and Ike devastated its agriculture and infrastructure, Cuban Finance Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Garcia stressed Monday.

'There is no reason to speculate or raise expectations about a famine situation. None of those issues have any justification in our case,' he told Cuban media.

'The population's food is guaranteed,' Rodriguez Garcia noted.

He added that Cuba has already spent over 2 billion dollars in food imports this year and that the communist country 'is in a position' to engage in 'additional imports.'

'If it is necessary we will. We have the means to do it,' the minister said.

Gustav and Ike devastated the Caribbean island in late August and early September, causing total or partial damage to over half a million homes, to road and communications infrastructure, to thousands of hectares of crops and to animal farming, in particular that related to chickens.

Official reports estimate over 5 billion dollars' worth of damage, while some international experts have put the figures closer to 10 billion dollars.

The hurricanes came even as Cuba was seeking to increase its agricultural production. Half of the country's arable land is idle, and it has to import some 85 per cent of the food it consumes.