Cuba’s government has begun doling out unused agricultural land to farmers with the aim of increasing production of staple foods, tobacco and coffee, state television reported. The land is being made available to farmers only through cooperatives, Orlando Lugo Fonte, chairman of Cuba’s national farmers organization, said in the TV report Monday night.
Despite a shortage of foreign currency, the Communist Caribbean island must import a large portion of its food. The government has raised prices of agricultural produces with the aim of boosting production.
About half the cultivable land in Cuba lies fallow or is insufficiently used, according to government accounts.
The land redistribution is to proceed orderly and no chaos would result, said Fonte, who is also a member of the State Council.
http://havanajournal.com/business/entry/cuban-farmers-to-receive-cuban-land-to-improve-agriculture-production/Private farmers who have shown themselves to be productive can increase their current land to a maximum of 99 acres (40 hectares) for a period of 10 years. The deal can be renewed, said the decree published in Communist Party newspaper Granma.
Cooperatives and state farms can also request additional land to work for 25 years, with the possibility of renewing for another 25, according to the new law. It did not specify how much more land the cooperatives can get.
The decree, promised for some time by Castro, is the latest of several reforms he has implemented to make Cuba's state-run economy more productive since formally replacing ailing brother Fidel Castro as president in February.
He has said Cuba needs to increase food production to replace imports, which have been rising in price. Cuban officials said the Caribbean island paid $1.47 billion in 2007 for food imports and expect that figure to rise by $1 billion this year.
Under Cuban land reform put in place after the revolution, Cubans could own up to 165 acres of land, so the new decree appears aimed at smaller farmers.
http://www.reuters.com/article/globalNews/idUSB51415920080718
