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HAVANA, September 2 (Manuel David Orrio, CPI / www.cubanet.org) - For the
first time the Cuban government acknowledged the existence of farming activity
independent of the government system of production when it announced that more
than 86,000 land holders were tilling the soil without legal protection.
That number amounts to about 16% of all land holders, and confirms the
existence of an independent agrarian sector that grew about 30% of the produce,
excluding sugar cane, in 2000, in about 1% of the arable land, according to
independent economists.
An official of the Ministry of Agriculture announced the decision to
legalize these land holders. The legalization would entail the acceptance of
contracts to sell mandatory minimums to the government, with excess production
to be sold in markets created for this purpose.
Versión
original en español
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