[lbo-talk] Cuba's painful transition from sugar economy

[Cseniornyc at aol.com]

W Sokolowsky writes:"  The fact of the matter is that Cuban  agriculture 
employs 25% (way above most developed countries, including ex-Soviet  bloc ones), 
while contributing only
about 6% of the GDP.  This is not a  good thing because it means that about a
fourth of Cuban labor force  contributes significantly less to the economy':
Comment: The answer is very simple : economic productivity, which is  what 
you are talking about, is directly dependent on the availability  of  
technological inputs, in this case oil based agricultural fertilizers  which after the 
Soviet Union oil supplies were finished they came to full stop.  So Cuba was 
forced to switch to a labor intensive agri-industry based on organic  
cultivation of products plus to intensify its very productive fishing industry.  People 
forget that Cuba is surrounded by the very rich Caribbean sea. A seafood  
based diet is the basic staple of the pop there.
In any event, your examples from Chile and Europe are simply unfair since  
neither of them faced international boycotts or oil shortages. However now that  
Hugo Chavez is offering Cuba abundant oil supplies it is possible that they  
switch strategies again. 
The main point, is that in spite of many exogenous problems, Cuba has  solved 
its agri problem and nobody suffers from famines nor farmers have to  commit 
suicide as in India.You can make smugly eastern European   jokes about the 
diet in the old Soviet Union but they do not apply to  Cuba.
Cristobal Senior
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