Land Given in Usufruct Still Doesn't Deliver Expected Results

Although it is a high priority for the Cuban government, the delivery of land in usufruct to natural persons, a measured adopted in 2008, does not deliver the expected results, it was learned today in the debates of the Parliament´s Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs.
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HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 16 (acn) Although it is a high priority for the Cuban government, the delivery of land in usufruct to natural persons, a measured adopted in 2008, does not deliver the expected results, it was learned today in the debates of the Parliament´s Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs.

The lawmakers said that there is no correspondence between the areas granted and the long-awaited production increases, because many do not bear fruit by insufficient and inadequate exploitation.

In this regard several deputies proposed to reevaluate the process of granting, through which Cuba tries to inject vitality into the national agriculture.

In discussions they analized the discreet progress obtained after a million 580,000 hectares of idle land were made available to individuals.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the country has an agricultural area of six million 342 thousand hectares and about 16 percent of the land is still unused.

The deputies were interested in the sector's contribution to the State Budget in payment of taxes, given the vast possibilities of generating revenue from new flexibilities that allow, for example, increasing to 67.1 hectares the area granted to individuals linked to the Credit and Service Cooperatives.

n this regard, Meisi Bolaños, Deputy Minister of Finance and Prices, stressed that agriculture could be one of the sector with the largest to the budget, however, announced that in 2015 it will be necessary to keep the exemption from taxation for possession and idleness of land in the case of its beneficial owners.

According to the official, this measure remains because there are still no conditions necessary to implement tax liens, since Cuba does not have a sustainable agricultural infrastructure.

And the extension of the use and exploitation of other areas such as beaches, in the case of legal persons is discussed, but they need to further evaluate the previous experience of the agricultural lease, she added.