Monday, December 7, 2009

Cutting losses

In addition to making more than 80,000 land grants and raising prices paid to producers (detailed here, pdf), the Raul Castro government is doing some reorganizing in agriculture.

Since the beginning of 2008, it has dissolved 215 state farm cooperatives (known as Unidades Basicas de Produccion Cooperativa, or UBPC). Of these, 76 were merged into others and the remaining 139 closed entirely. This leaves 1,463 UBPC’s, one fourth of which (402) are not profitable.

These figures come in a Granma article that examines the struggles of these cooperatives, which were created in 1993 when large state farms were broken up after Soviet aid ended. UBPC’s have been problematic since their beginning – unlike other cooperatives made of small farmers or the state farms that didn’t change their organizational structure, the UBPC’s were made up of parts of state farms with parts of their workforces, left to fend for themselves.

The Granma article cites some of their chronic problems and says the way for them to succeed now is through diversification of output. The message would seem to be that more could be dissolved if they don’t start operating in the black.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

"In addition to making more than 80,000 land grants and raising prices paid to producers (detailed here, pdf), the Raul Castro government is doing some reorganizing of the deck chairs on the Titanic."

Anonymous said...

"The Granma article cites some of their chronic problems and says the way for them to succeed now is through diversification of output."

Diversity of output is not the problem. The problem is price controls and a monopoloy on transporting the food supply. Unless and until the regime unloosens its grip on the nation's windpipe, includng the agricultural sector and the necessary middlemen (and women), the only result will be more hunger and tyranny.

leftside said...

And 8:00 AM believes that the key to reducing hunger in Cuba is allowing more middlemen to make more profits, allowing prices to go up to market rates and scaling back the State's role in getting products to market. Just want to make sure I have that clear.

Anonymous said...

"And 8:00 AM believes that the key to reducing hunger in Cuba is allowing more middlemen to make more profits..."

After 50 years, Lefty, you and Raulito still don't get it.

Farmers don't hire middlemen because because they want the middlemen to be rich. Middlemen are hired because they deliver food to the markets where it is sold for the benefit of the farmers. For 50 years, what little food is produced in Cuba ROTS IN THE FIELDS because the incompetent State cannot deliver it to the cities to be sold.

Got it, dimwit? Or would you prefer for the Cuban people to continue being hungry?

leftside said...

Of course nobody wants food to rot. And I don't have a problem with a farmer hiring someone to get the food to market - I don't think Cuban law does either (after all, that is how the Agros work). What I have a problem with is the capitalist notion that the problem with Cuban agriculture is that there are not enough people taking a cut of the profit. Cuba knows this is crap and that solutions lie elsewhere.

leftside said...

And if you are really interested in food waste, no one can compete with the capitalist West, who's food companies destroy all the food needed to feed the world.

Anonymous said...

and how much food is thrown away by those companies leftside and not given to food banks because those companies fear the trial lawyers who will sue them in a second if one person gets a stomach ache.

leftside said...

Who is defending trial lawyers 5:02. That is part of the sickness of capitalism.