Cuba lends private farmers unused state land

updated 7:17 p.m. ET April 1, 2008

HAVANA - Communist Cuba is opening up unused land to private farmers and cooperatives as part of a sweeping effort to step up agricultural production.

The program is among reforms announced in recent days that suggest substantial changes are being driven by the new president, Raul Castro, who vowed when he took over from his brother Fidel to remove some of the more irksome limitations on the daily lives of Cubans.

Analysts wondered how far the communist government is willing to go.

"Cuban people can't survive on the salaries people are paying them. Average men and women have been screaming that at the top of their lungs for many years," said Felix Masud-Piloto, director of the Center for Latino Research at DePaul University. "Now after many years, the government is listening."

Buying DVD players, pressure cookers
On Tuesday, Cubans snapped up DVD players, motorbikes and pressure cookers for the first time since the new government loosened controls on consumer goods.

Many of the shoppers filling stores Tuesday lamented the fact that the goods are unaffordable on the government salaries they earn. But that didn't stop them from lining up to see electronic gadgets previously available only to foreigners and companies.

"They should have done this a long time ago," one man said as he left a store with a red and silver electric motorbike that cost $814. The Chinese-made bikes can be charged with an electric cord and had been barred for general sale because officials feared a strain on the power grid.

On Monday, the Tourism Ministry announced that any Cuban with enough money can now stay in luxury hotels and rent cars, doing away with restrictions that made ordinary people feel like second-class citizens. And last week, Cuba said citizens will be able to get cell phones legally in their own names, a luxury long reserved for the lucky few.

Sharp change in land policy
The land reform, however, potentially could put more food on the table of all Cubans while helping to develop a new consumer economy.

Government television says 51 percent of arable land is underused or fallow, and officials are transferring some of it to individual farmers and associations representing small, private producers. According to official figures, cooperatives already control 35 percent of arable land — and produce 60 percent of the island's agricultural output.

"Everyone who wants to produce tobacco will be given land to produce tobacco, and it will be the same with coffee," said Orlando Lugo, president of Cuba's national farmers association.

The change is a sharp contrast to the early days of Cuba's revolution, when the government forced or encouraged private farmers to turn their land over to the state or form government-controlled collective farms. But without more details, it was difficult to tell the significance of program, which began last year but was announced only this week.

"If this means all land that's not being used, like for private farmers, cooperatives and state farms, is available, that's positive," said Carmelo Mesa-Lago, a Cuba economics expert at the University of Pittsburgh. "Assuming, of course, they have the freedom to sow and sell whatever they want."

Print this Email this Blog this  IM this

MORE FROM AMERICAS

Americas Section Front

Dominican president declares victory For losing horses in Puerto Rico, it's win or die Interpol back Colombia on rebel files Chavez tells Colombia no to U.S. base Canadian polygamists under pressure Americas Section Front   Add Americas headlines to your news reader: