Agricultural Reforms, Land Distribution, and Non-Sugar Agricultural Production in Cuba

Since 2007, the Cuban government has introduced a series of agricultural reforms to increase non-sugar agricultural production and reduce the country’s dependency on food and agricultural imports. The most important agricultural reforms implemented in Cuba (so far) include: (a) increases in the prices paid by the state for selected agricultural products, (b) restructuring the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI) and the Ministry of the Sugar Industry (MINAZ), (c) a new agricultural tax system, (d) the authorisation of direct sales and commercialisation of selected agricultural products, (e) micro-credits extended by stateowned banks to private farmers and usufructuaries, and (f) the expansion of usufruct farming. These reforms have contributed to the redistribution of Cuba’s agricultural land from the state to the non-state sector, notable reductions in idle (non-productive) agricultural land, and mixed results in terms of agricultural output. However, they have not been able to sufficiently incentivise output and reduce the country’s high dependency on agricultural and food imports to satisfy the needs of its population. Achieving these long-desired objectives requires the implementation of more profound structural reforms in this vital sector of the Cuban economy

Cuba\u27s De-Dollarization Program: Policy Measures, Main Objectives, and Principal Motivations

This paper examines the main characteristics of Cuba’s de-dollarization program, the objectives of these policy measures, and their principal causes and motivations. The paper is organized in three sections. The first section describes the policy measures associated with the process of de-dollarization, followed by a detailed account of their main objectives (section two), and an analysis of their principal causes and motivations (section three)

Cuba\u27s Agricultural Transformations

The Cuban government has implemented a series of agricultural transformations since 2007 to increase the country’s agricultural self-sufficiency and reduce its dependency on food imports. These include the transfer (in usufruct) of State-owned land to non-State producers (e.g. cooperatives and private farmers), moderate price reforms, the decentralization of decision making, and the gradual relaxation of existing forms of agricultural commercialization. As a result of these measures, the area planted, as well as physical output and agricultural yields (in selected non-sugar crop categories) have shown mixed results, but still remain below desired levels. There are three (3) fundamental unresolved aspects that have prevented Cuba’s agricultural sector from achieving the desired outcomes: (1) the need to achieve the “realization of property,” (2) the recognition and acceptance of the market as a complementary economic coordination mechanism, and (3) the absence of a systemic focus to achieve the successful completion of the agricultural production cycle. These unresolved aspects should be addressed through: (1) the consolidation of input markets, where producers can obtain essential inputs at prices that correspond to the prices they can obtain for their output, (2) greater autonomy to allow agricultural producers to freely decide when, where, and to whom they could sell their output, after social contracts have been fulfilled, (3) the diversification of the forms of agricultural commercialization to permit greater participation by non-State economic actors, (4) allowing agricultural producers to freely hire the labor necessary to sustain and increase production, and (5) providing agricultural producers with the financing and technical assistance necessary

Políticas de precios y comercialización agrícola durante la transición: Experiencias y lecciones para Cuba

Las políticas de precios y comercialización de productos agrícolas desempeñaron un importante papel durante las transiciones en los antiguos países socialistas. Estas transiciones agrícolas primordialmente se caracterizaron por el desmantelamiento, en algunos casos como China y Vietnam de forma gradual y calibrada y en otros de forma acelerada como en algunos países de Europa del Este y la Unión Soviética, del colectivismo, los subsidios estatales y los controles de precios y por mayores grados de participación de actores no-estatales en la comercialización de productos agrícolas. A pesar de notables diferencias estructurales y coyunturales, las experiencias de los antiguos países socialistas con relación las políticas de precios y comercialización de productos agrícolas ofrecen lecciones relevantes para Cuba a medida en que el país continúa actualizando su modelo económico, proceso en el cual las transformaciones agrícolas desempeñan un importante papel

Políticas y medidas para fomentar las remesas familiares en la República Dominicana: Impacto económico y lecciones para Cuba

Como resultado de la creciente importancia de las remesas en su economía, la República Dominicana ha implementado una serie de medidas e innovaciones tecnológicas con el fin de fomentar el crecimiento de estos flujos unilaterales de capital privado