Losses in the agricultural sector

By Weekly Archive On Sep 17, 2008

Losses
in the agricultural sector

A
Service by the Radio Progreso Alternativa Havana Bureau

Vice
Minister of Agriculture Alcides López told Cuban TV that
Hurricanes Gustav and Ike had resulted in losses of 700,000 tons of
products.

According
to López, the most affected regions are Pinar del Río,
Isle of Youth and Las Tunas.

The
losses include the death of over a million poultry, 12,000 tons of
pork meat, serious damages in 455 livestock production centers and
the destruction of 150 hothouses. Plantain was the most damaged crop.

For
the cold season campaign, which will begin in the present month of
September, it is necessary to plant 335,000 hectares.

More
land to farmers

A
September 15 press release by the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI)
announced that starting September 17 the ministry’s municipal
delegations will receive "applications for usufruct of idle land
by individuals and legal entities."

The
note explains that conditions have been created for the
implementation of Law 258, which allows the handing over of land in
usufruct (up to 40 hectares), to existing producers. Land can also be
given to new producers, but up to 13 hectares.

Individual
farmers may extend the land contract every 10 years, while for
cooperatives and state farms the extension of contract will be every
25 years.

According
to the press release, "Recovering the capacity for producing
food for our people in the briefest possible time and making the best
use of the land are strategic needs and a concrete manner of facing
the food crisis threatening humanity, of which we are part, and an
additional and urgent reason for contributing to the recovery after
the damage caused by devastating Hurricanes Gustav and Ike."

The
Catholic Church and the hurricanes

The
Cuban Catholic Church has
launched a campaign for aiding victims of the hurricanes.

Vicariates
have become reception centers for clothes, shoes, home appliances,
electrical equipment and cash donations. The Archbishop of the
Dioceses of City of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino, after
visiting the Isle of Youth on September 5 — a few days before a
second hurricane, Ike, devastated Cuba — called on all priests,
deacons, nuns and the faithful of the Havana archdiocese "to
extend, once again, from your poverty, your charitable hand to our
brothers and sisters in Pinar del Río and Isle of Youth."

Additionally,
Caritas Cuba has opened an e-mail address for all those persons and
institutions who wish to donate in helping the victims. The address
is as follows: caritas@iglesiacatolica.cu

Gas
prices hiked

A
September 8 press release issued by the Ministry of Finance and
Prices announced a rise in the price of fuels. The note, published in
Cuban media, did not mention the new prices, which consumers became
aware of upon arrival at gas stations.

The
almost 50% increase raises the price of 86 octane gasoline (for
motorcycles) from 0.60 CUC a liter to 1.15; 90 octane gas from 0.80
to 1.35; and 95 octane from 0.95 to 1.50. One CUC (Cuban convertible
currency) is worth about $0.82 U.S. dollar.

The
release explains that "from 2001 to 2008, the price of the
barrel of imported crude oil rose by 405%.” It also adds that "the
158,000 barrels a day that we consume cost us $8.7 million dollars in
2007, while this year that same amount goes for $11.6 million dollars
daily or an increase of 32 percent."

Although
the Ministry of Finance said that prices "would be updated
quarterly, according to the variations (…) of the world market,"
Cuban consumers question the application of this harsh increase at a
time when the price of oil has decreased to less than $100 dollars a
barrel.

Yes,
to dialogue with the E.U.

According
to highly reliable sources, the Cuban government has accepted a
proposal from the European Union (EU) for political dialogue.

In
its response, Havana posits starting the dialogue once its ground
rules have been defined. At the same time, Havana rejects any
meddling in the manner that Cuban politics is organized; that is an
issue of national sovereignty.

The
ground rules for the dialogue will likely be similar to those agreed
upon with the government of Spain, which has been the great promoter
of an opening toward the island.

Space
technology for Cuba for civilian uses

A
news item from the Russian agency RIA-Novosti, datelined Caracas,
says that "Russia will transfer space technologies to Cuba and
studies the possibility of helping the Caribbean nation to create its
own space center."

The
source of this information is Anatoli Perminov, head of the Roskosmos
Russian Space Agency.

Perminov
is part of the Russian delegation now touring Latin America. Presided
by Igor Sechin, the group arrived in Cuba on Tuesday.

"During
the negotiations with our Cuban colleagues, we analyzed the execution
of the accords reached about two months ago," Perminov told
RIA-Novosti. "The idea is to prepare agreements about
cooperation in the use of space for civilian purposes, about the
Glonass space navigation system, and about aid to navigation in the
Cuban territory."

Perminov
said he had discussed with Cuban officials the possible establishment
on the island "of a data-processing center for orbital-satellite
information and the joint utilization of space telecommunications
systems."

According
to Perminov, "we have discussed the possibility of the joint use
of satellites for the remote survey of the earth, with an eye to
establishing in Cuba a data-processing center for orbital-satellite
information, and to jointly utilizing space telecommunications
systems."

Raúl
Castro and Igor Sechin meet

Cuban
President Raúl Castro Ruz on Monday welcomed Russian Vice
President Igor Ivanovich Sechin.

Sechin
arrived at the head of a Russian delegation. His visit is intended to
broaden economic relations with Cuba and to analyze the areas where
the Russian government can help in coping with the major damage
created by hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

According
to the daily Granma, in its issue of Wednesday, "both leaders
expressed their political will to continue to raise the level of
collaboration."

According
to the newspaper, "joining the meeting later were Carlos Lage
Dávila, vice president of the Council of State, and Government
Minister Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz; for the Russian side, Energy Minister
Sergei Ivanovich and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov."