Assessing Cuba’s Early Re-peasantisation during the Special Period and beyond (1990-2008)
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Universidad de Salamanca
info
ISSN: 2452-5162
Year of publication: 2021
Volume: 2
Issue: 02
Pages: 1-26
Type: Article
More publications in: Historia Agraria de América Latina
Abstract
Cuban peasants had a significant role model in the past as they returned to the political agenda after the Revolution, and with particular emphasis during the Special Period, to confront the lack of food imports. The fall of Communism in the wider world forced Cuba to implement an alternative agriculture model that revolutionised production patterns and decentralised land structures and commercialisation. Did these changes create opportunities for small farmers during the 1990s and early 2000s? And if so, what kinds of opportunity were created? This article assesses the initial effects of re-peasantisation in terms of increasing small farmers’ incomes and significance in numbers, and their contribution to national food production (considering production and productivity levels), from 1990 to the end of Fidel Castro’s administration.