The provincial Agriculture delegation in Guantánamo has made available over 8,400 hectares of land across the province's 10 municipalities, suitable for coffee, cocoa, rice, sugarcane, various crops, and livestock. However, official reports have conceded that only a mere 20 hectares of this expanse are equipped with irrigation facilities.
This announcement, featured in the provincial newspaper Venceremos on Thursday, was made by Alvernis Veranes Favier, the leading agricultural authority in the eastern region. It aligns with the seventh theme of economic and social transformations promoted by the government, which under section 58 mandates the "modification of land management and usage by all economic actors."
Within this framework, state-owned enterprises managing socialist property lands can lease them through contracts to state, private, mixed, or natural legal entities for an indefinite period based on the submitted project.
The 8,451.58 hectares on offer are distributed among various enterprises and cooperatives. The largest individual offer comes from Azcuba with 2,200 hectares, followed by the La Tagua Subsidiary Company in Manuel Tames, offering 1,597.84 hectares primarily for coffee, diverse crops, and livestock.
Yateras Agroforestry Company contributes another 1,020 hectares for coffee and cocoa, while the Agricultural Production Cooperatives (CPA) provide 734 hectares.
Nevertheless, a significant limitation highlighted in the announcement is candidly acknowledged in the official text: "only 20 hectares of land with irrigation facilities exist in the Guantánamo Agroindustrial Company," which offers a total of 380.48 hectares, with 353.48 dedicated to livestock and 27 to various crops.
This figure underscores one of the most severe structural issues facing Cuban agriculture. Nationally, the area of cultivable land with irrigation does not exceed 10% of the total, according to specialists from the Ministry of Agriculture, which severely constrains the productive potential of any land distribution.
This provincial offer comes weeks after Cuba opened idle state lands to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) under the Agricultural and Forestry Land Law 185, approved on July 29 and published in the Official Gazette in September.
The law extends the usufruct to SMEs, foreigners, and contracts for up to 25 years, renewable, and is set to take effect around December 8.
Bureaucratic hurdles remain a recognized obstacle. Earlier this month, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Telce Abdel González Morera publicly acknowledged "mismanagement" in the processing of land delivery files, attributed to personnel changes and lack of follow-up.
Cuba imports between 70% and 80% of the food it consumes, at an estimated cost exceeding $2 billion annually, amid a production decline between 2018 and 2023 that reached 95% in pork, 87% in rice, and 70% in beans, according to the World Food Programme.
Law 185, which the regime touts as the most extensive agrarian reform in decades, will need to prove in practice whether it can reverse decades of decline in a country where the usufruct system has existed since 2008 without resolving structural food dependency.
Understanding the Challenges and Opportunities of Guantánamo's Agricultural Land Offer
What is the total amount of land being offered in Guantánamo?
Guantánamo is offering more than 8,400 hectares of land across its 10 municipalities.
How much of this land has irrigation facilities?
Only 20 hectares have irrigation facilities, highlighting a significant limitation in the infrastructure.
What crops and activities is the land suitable for?
The land is suitable for cultivating coffee, cocoa, rice, sugarcane, various crops, and for livestock farming.
What does Law 185 entail for land use in Cuba?
Law 185 opens up state lands for use by SMEs, foreigners, and others under contracts of up to 25 years, aiming to improve land management and productivity.