CPA (agriculture)
Encyclopedia
A CPA or Agricultural Production Cooperative, is a type of agricultural cooperative that exists in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

 today.

History of CPAs

Agricultural cooperatives similar to CPAs were experimented with in the first few years following the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...

.

Between 1977 and 1983, farmers began to collectivize into CPAs. This was done for a variety of reasons. The state offered various incentives to farmers willing to join a CPA. For example, farmers would sell their land to the state, receiving payments for a period of 20 years while also sharing in the fruits of the CPA. Also, joining a CPA allowed individuals who were previously dispersed throughout the countryside to move to a centralized location with increased access to electricity, medical care, housing, and schools.

Currently Cuban farming has moved to a more autonomous system, "Autoconsumo" which meant that Farms would set aside land for provisioning their own workers.http://www.foodfirst.org/pubs/devreps/dr14.html Another important change was that foodstuff are no longer delivered by farms to the central marketing agency, but directly to a market for direct distribution, much like voluntary capitalist cooperatives. In this sense state control has yielded to autonomy for the farm.

Autonomy of CPAs

CPAs are operated at a greater level of autonomy from the state than a UBPC
UBPC
A UBPC , or Basic Unit of Cooperative Production, is a type of agricultural cooperative that exists in Cuba.- History of the UBPCs :...

or a state farm. Autonomy is limited by centralized economic planning as well as state control over the input market and output market.

Worker Participation of CPAs

CPAs allow for democracy within the workplace. Democractic practice tends to be limited to business decisions and is constrained by the centralized economic planning of the Cuban system.
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