CLC-Conference-Proceeding-2018

According to Carlos Rafael Rodriguez, at
that time, the conditions necessary for an
energetic development of cooperation between
small and medium-sized farmers still did not
exist (Rodriguez, 1983).
In the 60s, small farmers began to organize
themselves into Farmer Bases to coordinate the
distribution of inputs for agricultural production,
material resources, to receive centralized loans,
etc., and this is how the Credit and Service
Cooperatives were created (CCS) (Barrios,
1982).
According to the definition set forth in
Article 5, Chapter II of Law No. 95 on Farming
Production and Credit and Service Cooperatives
of 2002, a CCS is a voluntary association of
small farmers who either own or hold in usufruct
their respective lands and other means of
production, along with the production they
obtain. It is a type of agrarian cooperation
whereby the technical, financial, and material
assistance provided by the State to increase
production for small farmers and facilitate trade
is arranged and facilitated. It has its own legal
capacity and is liable for its actions with its own
assets. [Gaceta Oficial de la República de Cuba
(Official Gazette of the Republic of Cuba).
Article 5, 2002, p. 1406)
The foregoing Law provides the following
objectives for the CCS in Article 9:
To plan, hire, purchase, sell, and use
the resources and services necessary for
its members and the cooperative in an
organized and rational way, based on
farming production.
To manage, apply for, and collaborate
in the control, use, and recovery of
necessary bank loans for its members
and the cooperative itself used for
farming production.
To plan and sell the governmentadministered
production [producciones
directivas] of its members and the
cooperative.
To sell other productions and services
authorized in its common purpose.
To acquire, lease, and collectively use
farming and transportation equipment
and to build the necessary facilities to
improve efficiency in farming
production and trade authorized in its
common purpose. [Gaceta Oficial de la
República de Cuba (Official Gazette of
the Republic of Cuba)]. Article 9, 2002,
p. 1407)
In 1963, the Second Agrarian Reform Law was
enacted, which reduced landholdings to 67
hectares. Larger estates were nationalized,
increasing state participation in cane agriculture.
The diversification and production also
increased, which gave rise to a transformation in
cane cooperatives on state-owned farms in
charge of supplying the raw material, sugarcane,
to the sugar mills.
When celebrating the fifteenth
anniversary of the enactment of the First
Agrarian Reform Law in 1974, there was
evidence of a need to find new and better ways
of farming production. It had to be done slowly,
progressively, and based on willingness.
These analyses and approaches
established the basis for the “Agrarian
Hypothesis” and relationships with farmers,
which were analyzed, discussed, and approved
later on during the first Communist Party
Congress in Cuba 1975.