The land-leasing program underway in Cuba will contribute to increasing food production as well as constitute a significant source of employment and help replace imports. According to
Cuba's Deputy Agriculture Minister, Alcides Lopez, the program stipulates the leasing of idle lands to those who can make them produce, noting that the initiative is advancing at a good pace.

At present, there are thousands of requests for land. During a conference of the Cuban Association of Agricultural and Forestry Specialists in Havana, Lopez said that 30 percent of all farms leased under usufruct have already been cleaned of weeds, while 12 percent have already been planted.

The Cuban government official explained that the development of ranching is a major motivation for the new land owners, followed by vegetables, tobacco, coffee and rice.

The land-leasing initiative was put into force by two decrees, approved last July and August, which stipulate the leasing of state-owned idle lands to individuals or legal entities willing
to make those lands produce food.

Cuban Farmers Cultivate High-yield Potato Varieties

Cuban farmers are currently involved in the cultivation of 20 different high-yield and disease-resistant potato varieties, in an effort to increase the production of an important staple in
the Cuban diet.

Some of those varieties include Canada's Calwhitte and others from Europe, according to Deputy Agriculture Minister Juan Perez Lamas, who noted that Cuban farmers are also boosting the cultivation of local potato varieties as part of a program aimed at developing the crop.

This year's potato harvest will begin in the province of Havana and will follow in the country's central provinces of Ciego de Avila and Matanzas. The objective of the current campaign is to
surpass last year's potato output in order to recover traditional production levels.

Poultry Sector Strives after Economic Sustainability

Despite the devastating impact of recent hurricanes Gustav and Ike on the Isle of Youth municipality, south of Havana, the poultry sector in the territory guarantees egg production for
the basic food basket.

The hurricanes affected 80 percent of poultry facilities and killed nearly 82, 000 animals, which had a negative impact on economic results of local poultry farms.

At present, the local production guarantees 12 eggs per-capita every month under the subsidized ration system which exists in Cuba, though the local sector expects to produce 26 million eggs, a figure that will meet the demand of both the basic basket and local markets in the municipality.

Cubans Boost Raw Material Recycling

The increase of raw material recycling by state entities and the population contributed to a 2-percent growth of that activity in 2008.

However, despite that achievement, there are still huge reserves that could be used to replace imports and favor the recovery of the country's economy, said Metal Industry Minister Fernando Acosta during a recent meeting with authorities in the sector.

Iron, stainless steel, copper, electric scrap, paper, textiles, glass containers, tires and other non-ferrous materials are some of the 18 products being processed by the Cuban recycling
industry.

Acosta stressed the role played by community-based raw material collection facilities, which favor the contribution of paper, paperboard, glass containers, bottles and other items of high
demand in the local industry.

Record Figure of Foreign Visitors in 2008

Cuba was the tourist destination picked by 2,348,340 foreign vacationers in 2008, which was considered a record figure according to an analysis of the statistics published by the
Cuban National Statistics Office (ONE).

The previous top figure was reported in 2005, but the sector experienced a drop in the number of visitors over the next few years. Beginning in 1985, the Cuban tourist sector began
sustained growth, with brief slumps in 2002, 2006 and 2007. But since 1996, the annual figure surpassed one million tourists and in 2004 the number of foreign vacationers rose to over two million.

Most of the visitors came as tourists, though the indicator also takes into account the crews of planes and ships, as well as cruise ship passengers and others who stayed on the island less than 24 hours.

Canada has become the leading source of tourists to Cuba, with 818,246 visitors last year; the figure translates into a noticeable increase with respect to the previous year, marking a
sustained tendency for nearly a quarter of a year.

Following Canada were the markets of Britain, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Mexico and Argentina, though the sum of all of them did not reach the total number of visitors from Canada.

The world economic crisis is seriously threatening the tourist industry, consequently many of the region’s destinations saw decreasing indicators last year, according to the Economic
Commissin for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), which predicts that the situation will be worse in 2009.