RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Cuba's president, Raul Castro, has gained some attention with an announcement that he would allow private farmers access to up to 100 acres of idle government land. It's a small shift toward private enterprise on a socialist island.
Cuba is also looking for more foreign investors to help tap its petroleum and mineral reserves. Cuba's economy is struggling, and these moves show that Raul Castro is struggling without a fix-it. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports.
JASON BEAUBIEN: At a small roadside farm stand on the outskirts of Havana, crisp bunches of lettuce, green beans and okra are piled on a wooden countertop. What's unique here is that unlike at larger, state-run farms, these growers get to keep the proceeds from their produce.
Mr. JUAN CARLOS AVILA FAJARDO (Farmer): (Spanish spoken)
BEAUBIEN: Juan Carlos Avila Fajardo stands behind the counter and describes the vegetables that are currently in season. This cooperative stems from reforms in the 1990s, when the economy was left reeling after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Last month, Raul Castro's administration announced new reforms that could create even more small farms like this one. The new law will grant private farmers concessions to work large tracts of state-owned land for up to 10 years.
Avila at the farm stall says he supports Raul's efforts at reform.
Mr. FAJARDO: (Spanish spoken)
BEAUBIEN: He says Raul is allowing farmers to legalize their plots of land, and this boosts the supply of food to the people. And nationwide, this is something Cuba is desperate to achieve.
Mr. OSCAR ESPINOSA CHEPE (Economist): The situation of the agriculture is terrible in Cuba.
BEAUBIEN: Oscar Espinosa Chepe is a Cuban economist and dissident. Espinosa used to be a high-ranking government official, but his support for opening up Cuba's tightly controlled socialist economy has put him at odds with the state. Espinosa says Cuban agriculture is in shambles.
Mr. CHEPE: Cuba is importing about 85 percent of the food that we need. It's incredible, because in the past, Cuba was an important exporter of food.
BEAUBIEN: Cuba is offering untended state-owned farmland to private individuals in part because it has so much of it. According to the government, more than half of the farmland in what used to be the world's largest sugar exporter is now fallow. Espinosa praises Castro's agricultural reforms as steps in the right direction, but he doesn't think they go far enough.
Despite being one of the last communist regimes in the world, Cuba has allowed private enterprise in some sectors. Many of the island's tourist resorts were built with investment from European hotel chains. Foreigners also have invested in mines and factories. And starting in the 1990s, the government allowed some people to open small private restaurants in their homes.
In the narrow kitchen at La Guarida in Havana, the staff is preparing for the afternoon rush. Pans of vegetables simmer on the gas range. The chef rapidly chops a white onion. Enrique Nunez started this paladar 12 years ago in an ornate, but crumbling old building.
His restaurant has been hugely successful, but he says, regrettably, most of his customers are diplomats, entrepreneurs and foreign visitors.
Mr. ENRIQUE NUNEZ (Restaurateur): (Spanish spoken)
BEAUBIEN: The main reason we don't have Cuban customers, he says, is because they can't afford the prices.
The average Cuban worker earns just $20 a month. This would barely cover an order of snapper carpaccio and the pork with mango salsa.
The government only allows paladars to seat 12 customers at a time. Some other establishments overtly break this rule. One across town has 12 tables. Nunez says he'd like to expand and possibly open up some other businesses.
Mr. NUNEZ: (Spanish spoken)
BEAUBIEN: I have the ability to do it, he says. And I think opportunities should come. We have to be patient. I have bet on Cuba and on the future of Cuba, and that's why I'm here.
Mr. NUNEZ: (Spanish spoken)
BEAUBIEN: And he adds: We are simply waiting.
Raul Castro has suggested that he might allow more private enterprise on the island. The new president even said he may lift salary caps. Laying out an ideological break with his older brother Fidel, Raul recently stated that socialism means equality of rights, and not necessarily equality of income.
In that same speech, however, Raul cautioned that the nation is facing hard times and needs to be realistic. While sending signals that he wants to loosen the state's grip somewhat on the economy, he also warned that rising global food prices could lead to even more belt tightening in Cuba. Jason Beaubien, NPR News.
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