I will believe the Saudis don't see any upcoming problems with Ghawar when they cancel one of their projects due to low oil prices. If they continue to be full steam ahead with increasing their capacity then I think they are aware that Ghawar may not be as robust in 5 years time as they would like us to believe.
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:16 pm Post subject: Revolucion: Cuba allows private farmers to have more land
Cuba should be a major net food and biofuel exporter. The agro-ecological potential is there.
But loonie policies and bad governance have made this impossible. The country is now a miserable net food importer.
Luckily, this situation is now changing in what many see as a major policy move by Raul Castro: the rational communists in the new government are privatising government owned land (in a lease formula) in an effort to boost food output.
At last! This is a much needed Revolucion!
Quote:
Cuba allows private farmers to have more land
HAVANA (AP) — Communist officials decreed Friday that private farmers and cooperatives can use up to 100 acres (40 hectares) of idle government land, as President Raul Castro works to revive Cuba's floundering agricultural sector.
The law published in the Communist Party newspaper Granma did not say how much state land will be turned over to private hands and gave no indication of how many Cubans might apply.
But it described the measure as a way to help Cuba solve the problem of underused land while cutting food imports that are expected to cost the government US$2 billion this year.
Landless Cubans can be given a bit more than 33 acres (13 hectares) while those who already have fully producing plots can add enough state lands to bring their total holdings to 100 acres (40 hectares).
Existing state farms, cooperatives and state factories also can apply for underused land.
Ownership will stay with the state. Private farmers can get concessions of up to 10 years, renewable for another 10. Cooperatives and companies can have renewable 25-year terms. And all will have to pay taxes for the lands, though the decree gave no details.
While the individual parcels are small, the widespread transfer of farmland from public to private hands could change the face of farming in a country where the government controls well over 90 percent of the economy.
The decree noted that Cuba now suffers from "a considerable percentage of idle state lands," making it necessary to grant concessions "with the objective of elevating food production and reducing importation."
Government statistics released last month show that the percentage of fallow or underused Cuban farm land increased to 55 percent in 2007, up from 46 percent in 2002. Just 29 percent of land on state farms is actively used.
After Fidel Castro took power in 1959, the government expropriated many large farms and agricultural holdings, while allowing thousands of small farmers to keep their plots and sell their produce to the state.
The new measure doesn't say where farmers will sell their output, but nearly all private farmers now are required to sell most of their produce — beyond what they eat themselves — to the state.
Friday's decree spells out details of a plan announced in March, when officials told state television they had begun lending more small plots to private producers of tobacco, coffee and other key cash crops.
Raul Castro, 77, has made increasing food production and reducing dependance on foreign imports a top priority since succeeding his brother Fidel in February.
The government earlier gave more autonomy to regional farm authorities and it is paying private farmers more for milk and meat.
State-owned farms now hold just over one-third of Cuba's agricultural land — down from about 70 percent two decades ago. The rest is worked by small farmers and cooperatives, many of them state-organized.
It is this type of reforms that will allow the world to produce food for 40 billion people. Or biofuels to replace all oil. Scientists know it can be done.
And bad governance and loonie policies can be changed. Cuba shows these miserable traits are not here to stay forever. Bad governance and loonie policies can be changed, so that we can make the most of nature.
There is no reason why we should get stuck in this irrational idea that the planet has not enough carrying capacity to produce both food and fuel for a mere 9 billion people.
The only thing we have to do is to use our brains (which is something many, despite the relatively advanced stage of the evolution of our neurons, are still not capable of).
For Cuba, at least, the Beginning is Near! _________________ The Beginning is Near!
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:01 pm Post subject: Re: Revolucion: Cuba allows private farmers to have more lan
lorenzo wrote:
There is no reason why we should get stuck in this irrational idea that the planet has not enough carrying capacity to produce both food and fuel for a mere 9 billion people.
There is. It is rather like the reason we cannot produce a lossless motor. Human ingenuity comes with losses. We might be great, but we suck enough that we are not that great. _________________ Volatility. When life isn't exciting enough.
Joined: Sep 25, 2004 Posts: 4667 Location: Boston, MA
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:02 pm Post subject: Re: Revolucion: Cuba allows private farmers to have more lan
Let freedom ring!
I'm glad at least one country in the world is marching towards liberty instead of running away from it like the United States.
When Cuba becomes a major food exporter and its people no longer have to rely on ration cards to get by, I expect the exodus of Cuban refugees to slow down.
Can we lift that damn embargo now? _________________ "www.peakoil.com is the Myspace of the Apocalypse."
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:10 pm Post subject: Re: Revolucion: Cuba allows private farmers to have more lan
So will the Cubans actually eat the increased food supply or will their government confiscate (mandate) it all for fuel like that other government?
They'll have their capitalism fling, then they'll discover capitalism sucks & socialism wasn't bad after all, just like US. _________________ People first, then things, then dollars.
There will be enslavement, cannibalism, & zombie invasions.
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:28 pm Post subject: Re: Revolucion: Cuba allows private farmers to have more lan
More likely communism will collapse, leaving a population lacking defences against the gangsters that will rise unchecked, destroying the few properly functioning social institutions and eventually leaving the country in the same condition as Haiti. Perhaps where the FSU would be today without the oil and gas. _________________ Volatility. When life isn't exciting enough.
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:50 pm Post subject: Re: Revolucion: Cuba allows private farmers to have more lan
Heroineworshipper and Twilight, why do you always fear the worst first instead of examining and weighing off all the different possibilities?
Chances are that Cuba becomes a socially sensitive state in which private property and a mild form of free market principles will be introduced. Best of both worlds.
One thing is clear: the country's old communist policies no longer work all that well. At the same time, laissez-faire capitalism has shown its ugly teeth elsewhere and is not the path to follow either.
So why would they not pick a system in-between these two extremes?
It's not because Cuba's communism failed in the field of agriculture and food production, that all socialist principles have to be abandoned. And vice versa, it's not because capitalism has impoverished hundreds of millions of people that it hasn't resulted in smart systems that do yield many economic benefits.
I trust that the current transformations in Cuba will continue to come about gradually and in a smart way.
Land reform was needed, even for communists. And it's good that this reform is now finally being implemented. _________________ The Beginning is Near!
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 2:41 pm Post subject: Re: Revolucion: Cuba allows private farmers to have more lan
lorenzo wrote:
Heroineworshipper and Twilight, why do you always fear the worst first instead of examining and weighing off all the different possibilities?
Chances are that Cuba becomes a socially sensitive state in which private property and a mild form of free market principles will be introduced. Best of both worlds.
Juxtapose these two sentences right here.
We can agree that there are many different possibilities, but you have to understand that there is a probability distribution at work and it is inevitable that our assessments will differ. In this case they are at two opposing extremes. You assign a high probability to this case, and I assign a low one. I cite the collapse of the Soviet Union as precedent, where there was no reason not to choose a progressive system, but the outcome was a failure. You may cite other facts in support of your assessment. One day we will see who was less wrong. _________________ Volatility. When life isn't exciting enough.
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