Cuban government to distribute idle land
Campaign News | Friday, 18 July 2008
In a further effort to increase national food production and to reduce imports, the Cuban government announced the distribution of idle land to farmers and cooperatives throughout the island.
A decree published Friday in the Granma newspaper states that landless people will be granted up to 13.42 hectares in usufruct for an initial period of 10 years, while those who already own or had previously leased some land, will be able to increase the amount to a little more than 40 hectares.
State farms and co-ops will also be able to increase their land for a 25-year term with the possibility of renewing.
The land is non-transferable and the beneficiary has to pay a tax, according to the law signed by Cuban President Raul Castro a day before the first session of the Cuban parliament on July 10,2008.
In his speech before the Cuban National Assembly, Raul Castro stressed the importance of reverting the trend of the decreasing amount of cultivated land.
