Cuban Government Leases Agricultural Market to Cooperatives

A singular experience comes to life in the Cuban capital with the opening of a leased agricultural market, organized and controlled by three cooperatives in the municipality of Guira de Melena, in western Artemisa province.

The purpose is to strengthen the system of direct sales to those facilities in the provinces of Havana, Artemisa and Mayabeque, by eliminating middlemen and ensure a sufficient variety and quantity of fresh products for the population.

Antero Regalado and Frank Pais Credits and Services Cooperatives (CCS by its Spanish acronym) and Waldo Diaz Cooperative Farm (CPA by its Spanish acronym) passed through very complex stages before materializing this endeavor.

One of the first tasks we undertook was the remodeling, painting and maintenance of the facility located at Tulipan and Panorama, at a cost of 90,000 Cuban pesos, Abelardo Alvarez Silva, president of CCS Antero Regalado, told ACN.

He explained that the boards of the three cooperatives play a key role in ensuring productions, and strict enforcement of discipline and rules approved by their members.

He said that workers earn 18 percent of the total sales, so wages were around 2 500 pesos at the end of December.
We have to work hard in recruiting and planning everything, mainly on the use of vehicles to transport the goods every second day, he added.

Currently they market more than 20 fresh products at affordable prices for the population, residents of Nuevo Vedado neighborhood stated.

This marketing system, which aims eliminating middlemen and lowering prices of agricultural products is covered by Decree -Law 318, issued in November 2014.