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Economic Reform and Repeasantization in Post-1990 Cuba

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2022

Laura J. Enrquez
Laura J. Enrquez*
Affiliation:
University of California at Berkeley
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Abstract

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In the early 1990s Cuba initiated a new phase of social transformation, driven forward by an economic reform. Some aspects of that reform resembled orthodox structural adjustment, while others differed from it. In agriculture the reform reshaped state farms into multiple cooperatives, subdivided cooperative production, liberalized produce markets, and ceded land to individual parceleros. Through interviews with policy makers and cooperative leaders, and a survey of small farmers in western and eastern Cuba, I examined the reform's impact on small farmers' production. I found that two important patterns characterized the 1990s:first, repeasantization occurred; and second, income disparities between these two regions were maintained, if not expanded. Yet, even in poorer regions, small farmers are modestly better off than the average salary earner, while in other regions they are substantially better off. In sum, Cuba's economic crisis forced the reshaping of agricultural policy in ways that fortified the position of small farmers.

Type
Research Reports and Notes
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , 2003 , pp. 202 - 218
Copyright
Copyright 2003 by the University of Texas Press

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