<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2722" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV>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<BR>about 6% of the GDP.  This is not a good thing because it means that about a<BR>fourth of Cuban labor force contributes significantly less to the economy':</DIV> <DIV>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.</DIV> <DIV>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. </DIV> <DIV>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.</DIV> <DIV>Cristobal Senior</DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>