CUBA: Cuban agriculture ripe for reform

The agriculture sector in Cuba is under the spotlight as interim leader Raul Castro criticises inefficiencies in the state-run system. In Cuba, the local farmers markets are a bustling affair where almost everyone comes to pick over the fruit, vegetables and meat on offer. The markets, after all, are the only places to get fresh produce other than the staples like rice and beans provided by the communist government which controls 90 percent of the economy and provides rations for its population. Prices are high - with a head of garlic selling for 5 pesos, a pound of tomatoes for 6 pesos and pork for 35 pesos a pound (0.45 kg), or more than three day's average pay. But despite the hefty costs being paid out, the locals complain the selection on offer still leaves a lot to be desired: "The only things there are today are tomatoes and onions, that is all there is. There is no variety," said shopper Emelina Delgado. Experts say there is scant produce in the shops because it is not being planted in the fields. Farmers have to fulfill production quotas for the state before they can sell their surplus to farmers markets through state supply centers. But the money the state is paying is so low there is little incentive for farmers to put crops in. So with limited fruit and vegetables around, prices have almost doubled over the last two years. "In our case the price of the produce was lower before. This tomato for example, was at 1.20 and now it is at 2.50. And so now we are seeing a few more tomatoes. But not many," market seller Maria Nela said. State television commentator Ariel Terrero recently said produce production fell by 20 percent in 2005 and 10 percent last year. Shoppers aren't expecting things to get better for awhile. "Unfortunately this is supply and demand. Even if they wanted to lower the prices they wouldn't be able to lower them like this if there is no mass production. They are battling to increase production, which is the only way to really obtain lower prices," one market shopper, Elio, said. Many are still haunted by memories of hunger after the Soviet Union collapse in 1991 and acting President Raul Castro - still presiding over the government for his brother Fidel - has put food supplies at the top of the agenda. At a session of Cuba's legislature in December he breathed down the neck of the new agriculture minister for the months of arrears in payments to private farmers. "In order to honor the truth one has to say that companion Maria del Carmen received this responsibility to direct the Agriculture Ministry in very difficult conditions, with many inherited problems from the deterioration of the special period and for lack of resources. But I continue to be unable to understand the non-payment of the farmers," Raul Castro said. Private farmers provide 60 percent of Cuba's produce - far more than what is brought in by the state's worker cooperatives. What the state will pay for some produce quotas has gone up since Raul began running the government. But the farmers say that selling when they can to the limited commercial markets is still the much more profitable and preferred option - even if in some cases it might be illegal. "The state produce agency doesn't pay the farmers on time, so people don't give (their produce) to the state. People sell it elsewhere and so the prices go up," farm manager Jesus Ortega said. Cubans still get most of their food from the state-run warehouses where they use ration books to purchase subsidized food. But even here the options are limited. Beef and milk are only rationed for the disabled and children up until the age of seven. The things on sale cover the basics: "Sugar, coffee, oil and from the butcher calamari, eggs, chicken and fish. (Journalist: Are there shortages?) No, they are coming more regularly, we don't have any problems with that," one customer Nelson Cisneros said. Cuba's agriculture problems are not new, but the focus on bureaucratic inefficiency is. Where Fidel Castro might have blamed high food prices on middlemen and accused them of getting rich at the expense of the state, his brother blames the state produce agency. "How can we have food if the majority of the producers - that is 65 percent of the production - aren't being paid? It has been months now and even though it is hard there is no remedy left except to face these problems and see to it we have finished resolving them," Raul told the National Assembly in December. However experts say that even if Raul will be able to enact change within the state produce agency, everything will take time. In the meantime Cuba has been forced to double its food importation in the last two years to almost $2 billion. Ironically, longtime ideological enemy the United States has become Cuba's top exporter, from where it brings in grains, chicken, beans and powdered milk under an exception to U.S. trade sanctions. White House watchers say the United States is even hoping to up exports this year. With Democrats now in control of the U.S. Congress and the belief by some lawmakers that Castro's stepping aside provides an opportunity for improved relations, a number of bills have been introduced that would loosen trade and travel restrictions between the two long-time rivals.

ITN Source | February 25, 2007

Tags:. .belief. .communist. .carmen. .resolving. .cubans