14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, economist, 18 January 2024 — Communists continue to bet on the same policies as always that have shown, again and again, their failure. What is serious is that the State press does the unspeakable by trying to justify them. This is what happened with a joint exercise of control of the possession, use and legality of land and livestock, which, according to them, aims to achieve the transformation of production systems to increase food production. The experiment is carried out in 22 municipalities as part of a pilot program by the General Directorate of Land Control of the Ministry of Agriculture.
The belief that “putting order in the field guarantees greater food production,” is not only wrong but is a good example of what it means to put political and ideological decisions before productive and efficient technical decisions. Luckily, the announced “pilot program ” will be carried out in only 22 municipalities. If it were extended to the entire territory, as it seems that they intend, the famine would be fatal.
Every time the Cuban communists intervene in the agricultural production system, they end up destroying it. The first example was the so-called “land reform law” that collapsed the private farm system. Another example was the “10 million ton sugar harvest” that was never achieved. I insist, putting ideology before rational economic principles is fatal for any economy, but especially for the agricultural sector. The Cuban example is good for those who want to investigate objectively.
Because, in addition, what this experiment aims at is something that cannot be achieved with communist order and control, quite the opposite. If it is intended to increase agricultural production by promoting a decrease in the area of idle lands by improving the efficiency of those currently leased. Communist control leads to failure, because the bases of the productive system, which are the property rights of the land, are not removed.
The Vietnamese, faced with a similar scenario