MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cuba scraps bureaucracy to help farmers boost food production

Minister Marino Murillo promised no more delays in farm supplies

Cuba's private farmers will in future purchase supplies directly instead of having them allocated by the state, the government said on Sunday, in the latest concession to demands for more autonomy.

Vice President of the Ministers Council Marino Murillo made the announcement at the close of the ANAP congress of Cuba's 350,000 family farmers and members of private cooperatives, the largest private sector in the country where the state controls most economic activity.

The farmers, who account for 70% of the food produced in Cuba using just 41% of the land, had pushed for more freedom to sell their produce and obtain supplies during meetings across the country before the congress.

At issue are regulations guaranteeing the state's near monopoly of the agricultural system through a long-standing practice of contracting for 75% of farmers' production in return for fuel, pesticides, fertilizer and other supplies.

The government had approved plans to modernize the economy and “create in the majority of municipalities supply markets where farmers can acquire directly the necessary resources to produce, substituting the current system of assigning resources centrally,” Murillo said.

He said there were no plans to eliminate the state's monopoly on food sales. But, various farmers and cooperatives spoke during the congress about how they were selling more of their products directly to consumers and institutions such as schools and hospitals with positive results.

Raul Castro, who attended the closing session of the congress, has made food security his signature issue since taking over the presidency from older brother Fidel Castro two years ago. Cuba imports 70% of its consumed food, 1.5 billion US dollars, a huge burden on its fragile economy.

Castro has boosted what the state pays for produce, leased state lands to farmers, decentralized decision-making and allowed some farmers to sell a small part of their produce directly to consumers at fixed prices.

The reforms spurred production last year of bumper crops of tomatoes, garlic and other food, but that has not happened this year.

In meetings before the congress, farmers said recent production has fallen, partly because the state did not provide fertilizer and pesticides on time. It also failed to get all of their produce to market the past two years, they said.

Government statistics indicate that sugar, coffee and citrus productions are at all-time lows, and non-sugar agriculture was down 13% through March

The National Association of Small Farmers, ANAP, celebrated on Sunday its Tenth Congress (the previous one took place ten years ago). It brought together 900 delegates representing Cuba’s 362.440 associated peasants. Monday May 17 is Farmers’ Day in Cuba.