Changes in the agro sector
By Elsa Claro
HAVANA – Amid a hot and somewhat hopeless summer, a lot of transformations were announced to the Cuban citizenry.
A large package that expands and develops measures that have already been implemented was explained at the ninth session of the Seventh Legislature of the Cuban National Assembly by Marino Murillo, vice president of the Council of Ministers, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba, and the man responsible for the policy of economic reforms.
Judging from what he placed before the deputies for their consideration, these are measures that require immediate enforcement.
The highlights of the session, given their overall importance, were the statements made by Murillo and later by Raúl Castro, when the president said there will be several important and much expected modifications in the organization of the agro sector [agriculture and cattle raising.]
First, it will be possible to turn over 5 additional caballerías (67.1 hectares) to persons associated with any of the forms of property or organization. The right to transfer that land to relatives or associates who till them is ratified, and the construction of homes next to the tilling grounds is permitted.
This measure had been expected since three years ago, when many people – beneficiaries, journalists and academicians – found it illogical that a tenant could not build his home at the place where he worked. Finally, that need has been met. To replant the land you need to settle the farmer upon that land, wrote a columnist in this magazine in 2009.
According to Murillo, it is indispensable (and should be stimulating) that all the economic actors in the agro sector have an equality of conditions in which to operate. They should therefore have similar possibilities to make a profit.
The new rules say that everyone can market the products. Havana, Artemisa and Mayabeque will be the first provinces to test the redesign of the structures that so far have caused losses or bad-quality products or irritation among the farmers. The much maligned Centro de Acopio [Collection Center] seems to be on its way out.
These measures are added to others that are already doing well. For the past several months, farmers can negotiate directly with the tourism sector. These are relations that improve according to the experience gained by the companies that buy and sell.
Those relations are further aided by the horizontal dealings, which may also work in other domestic endeavors. A decision has been made to take many stores that sell vegetables, fruits or meat out of the hands of the state and offer them to individual entrepreneurs. Wherever possible, the state plans to allow wholesale trade cooperatives.
September will mark the start of this package of formulas designed to increase supplies, prevent mismanagement and reduce prices gradually. A key objective is to reduce or eliminate the importation of foodstuffs, which are becoming more and more expensive in the world markets.
Still available for lease in usufruct are 1 million 150,000 hectares of idle land. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture continues to be remodeled because its structure no longer responds to the needs of the industry.
Other major reforms, such as the creation of urban cooperatives for various industries, could complement the plans for agriculture and self-employed business. We shall comment on that in forthcoming articles.
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