ASOCIACIÓN NACIONAL DE AGRICULTORES PEQUEÑOS (ANAP)

The National Association of Small Farmers is led by a member of the Central Committee of the Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC).  Its c180,000 members are independent farmers outside the system of state and collective farms.  Their farms constitute about 20% of Cuba’s total cultivated land.  They concentrate mainly on such specialized crops as tobacco, coffee, and tubers.  ANAP provides the liaison between the government and what was until the 1990s the only private sector left.  It is generally considered the most important rural organization in size and membership, if not in political influence.  Although the government recognized the right of some small farmers to own their lands and even to sell them, the state has a preferential right to purchase, and, in any case, farmers must have state approval for any transaction.  These farmers receive seed, fertilizer, tools, and credit from government agencies, and, in turn, are required to sell part of their crops to the state.  As a result of incentives combined with tightening regulations, the government secured progressive reduction in the number of independent farmers and of wage workers on their farms.  The December 1975 Congress of the PCC considered a proposal to accelerate this reduction by persuading farmers to join state-owned projects.