-DATE- 19630721 -YEAR- 1963 -DOCUMENT_TYPE- SPEECH -AUTHOR- F. CASTRO -HEADLINE- TO OFFICIALS, TECHNICIANS, AND PRODUCERS OF INRA -PLACE- HAVANA -SOURCE- HAVANA PRENSA LATINA -REPORT_NBR- FBIS -REPORT_DATE- 19630722 -TEXT- CASTRO CALLS FOR EFFORTS IN AGRICULTURE Havana PRENSA LATINA in Spanish to Latin America 1553 GMT 21 July 1963--E (OFFICIAL USE ONLY) (Speech by Fidel Castro to officials, technicians, and producers of INRA cattle division in Havana 20 July) (Text) Havana--Premier Fidel Castro said that "in the future, we must base the entire policy of agricultural planning on a rational use of our resources." He pointed out that, because agriculture is the present basis for the economic development of the country, it is imperative that both the United Party of the Socialist Revolution (PURS) and the revolutionary government give it foremost attention. Maj. Fidel Castro spoke at the concluding session of the conference held in Havana by officials, technicians, and producers of the INRA's cattle division. He began his talk by saying that during the past few days he had had several meetings with high-ranking leaders of that state agency, "concerning the tasks to be accomplished in the field of agriculture and the great organization effort that must be made and that culminates a whole series of studies which the INRA has been effecting for many months." "This," he said, "has been done in order to give INRA an adequate organizational structure that will correspond to the present stage of the revolutionary process and the development in agriculture, since, as is natural, we have experienced a very agitated period since the land reform was proclaimed, and many of the characteristics evident in today's organization originated during the process just passed. Every phase of this process," continued Fidel Castro, "left something in the organization; that is, some good and some bad points." Concerning a series of obstacles and disarrangements faced by agricultural production, Dr. Castro said that "as long as the agency has not been adequately reorganized, there always will be many of those problems which, unquestionably, can never be problems in the future." He continued: "In agriculture, we must define the main direction of the effort. As a matter of fact, we can say that absolutely on one inside the revolution knew, for a time, just what the main direction of the effort would be, because during one phase of the revolutionary process our main task was to survive, to resist the imperialist aggression, and to solve social problems, such as unemployment. "At the same time, we were influenced by a series of ideas related to the shortcomings of our agricultural system. These ideas belonged to a phase that has already passed, of course, but they also continued to press us for a long time during the present phase." In this part of his talk, Premier Castro mentioned the misfortunes suffered by cane and sugar production as a result of a pessimistic mentality that attributed to this economic segment a much more negative outlook than was really the case, and did not take advantage of the possibilities in the world market--possibilities which are unlimited today. Then he explained: "At this moment, as never before, the revolution knows the main direction of its effort. It is not a single direction; there are various important directions. The main direction, the most important of all, is cane-growing. This does not mean at all that other phases of the agricultural production will be abandoned." The Premier then analyzed the possibilities for cattle and agriculture and said that both offer good prospects, almost unlimited prospects, not presented by other phases of the economy." He added: "In the field of agriculture, we must think in terms of an economic criterion, and the entire development of the national economy must be based also on economic and realistic bases and not on illusions. We must keep in mind, fundamentally, the problem of costs. We must never forsake the principles of economy, except for reasons that have nothing to do with the economy, as for example, a military necessity, a strategic problem, or a blockade that may prevent us from getting a certain product from a certain market, thus forcing us to produce it here even though it may cost three, four, or five times more than if we bought it." Referring to the cattle technicians, Premier Castro said: "All of you who have had to work a great deal to achieve something may possibly have a certain mistrust, a certain reservation for planning, and yet it is extremely important. It is extremely important--above all when we have a real plan, a realistic plan, a well-studied plan, a perspective plan, a plan which can be implemented in the case of the cane and in the case of the cattle." Premier Castro emphatically stated: "When the national economy, with all its resources, is supported by a well-formulated and realistic plan, then the benefits to be derived will be extraordinary." The Premier pointed out: "It is wrong not to have a plan. And often it is still worse to have plans when the plans are not realistic or when the plans are not based on real resources for attaining specified goals, or when the resources are not well distributed." Fidel Castro added that "the (economic-Prensa Latina) problem is not merely a planning problem. Even if we have a great plan, know what we want to do, and have all the resources, a mental attitude toward the tasks to be accomplished is necessary; in the imagination, the inventiveness, the initiative of each man in the production trenches, that man's mental attitude is important, his technical ability is very important, his love of work is really very important." Returning to the matter of the livestock industry in particular and its prospects, he said: "As it develops, there is the possibility that its importance may increase, that the proportion of its importance may increase, the percentage of its importance in the national economy, and that this importance may reach the level of sugarcane." He explained: "But that cannot be forecast, because the development of cane byproducts may lead to higher revenues for the nation from cane than we perhaps imagine today. "Meat may attain an extraordinary volume in the national economy, right now as a product to meet our needs--and this is the most urgent thing--and in the future as an export item." Then Fidel Castro said that "we have found out one thing under socialism, it is that nothing is ever surplus, for consumption rises ceaselessly throughout the socialist camp." In another section of his talk, the Premier spoke at length of milk and meat production in Holland. The Premier mentioned the work done by the Dutch in that branch of economy as a highly efficient effort which has given Holland considerable returns both domestically and in foreign trade. Then he mentioned the technical factors that must be taken into consideration at the time of planning and developing agriculture and animal husbandry. He pointed out concretely that in organizing the planting of crops, it was necessary to take into account their yield per hectare, the natural properties of the land selected, its water resources for irrigating future crops, and the product's suitability and usefulness to the nation's economy. In this connection, he gave a series of statistics revealing the comparative advantages of certain crops over others. He noted that a caballeria--13.42 hectares--planted in cane gives a production worth from 13,000 to 15,000 dollars, while the same extent planted in rice produces about 8,000 dollars, and that if pangola grass is planted for pasturage, it will yield 150,000 dollars. Castro stressed that a product's commercial prospects on both the domestic and the foreign market should be given predominant attention at the time of planning crops and developing the livestock industry. "As for livestock, the number of milk cows we produce has great prospects in the domestic market, to an extent that cannot even be suspected now. But I am also sure that products such as milk and meat, like sugar, have a completely sure foreign markets." He went on to say that livestock products not only have splendid prospects for consumption in Cuba and abroad, but also enjoy very favorable natural conditions for their development. Further on, the Premier said that "since we are now learning to think according to strictly economic and technical criteria, to make rational use of resources, to try for a maximum effort from our country, and to exploit the natural potential of our country to the utmost, then all these things are factors that must be considered when studying the outlook for our agriculture." Expanding on what he had said, the Premier stressed that "of course it is necessary to grow rice; this does not mean we should stop growing rice. Of course, it we could exchange for rice some things that give us greater returns than rice, that would be better. When we effect an exchange of sugar for rice with Uruguay, that is better than planting rice here." He then pointed out that "since there are market problems, we must have a certain amount of domestically grown rice. We might suggest a freeze on the existing amounts, and further development on the basis of land that does not serve for any crop but the rice and has plenty of water." He stressed: "In all agricultural work related to the reorganization which the organism is to have finally, all these criteria and all these basic points will be taken into account." He mentioned the experience gained by INRA technicians, which has made it possible to keep on one caballeria 60 cattle producing extraordinarily, and constantly increasing in weight. He stressed that "first of all you need good quality stock--that is indispensable--and secondly, you must solve the problems of feed." He said that "livestock enables us to achieve an extraordinary increase in the amounts of milk, meat, fats, hides--everything obtained from stock--without confronting us with the problem of prepared fee, because it is a branch of production that we can develop fully on the basis of pasturage and fodder raised in our country. The Premier emphasized the importance of this advantage afforded by the characteristics of livestock production, indicating that it means being able to increase the supply of meat for the people without the risks and currency expenditures that would be required to do it by raising chickens. He explained that whereas chickens are fed with imported products, the national cattle wealth can be maintained with feed available domestically. He revealed that experiments now are being conducted in feeding hens with a combination of imported feed and Cuban-grown greed feed (pastos), with surprising results. "When we have solved the prepared-feed problem and do not have to import it," he said, "and are able to feed our stock with pasturage and fodder grown on the farms, we will have gotten rid of a big problem and we will have taken a big step forward." Regarding the distribution of milk cows and beef cattle, the Premier said the original view maintained in the revolutionary period, based on a like distribution of cattle for each purpose, is being reexamined. However, he stressed that because of natural conditions in Cuba, which does not have the vast plains that abound in some South American countries, the facts of the situation seem to decide in favor of giving preponderance to milk cows over beef cattle, while not underrating the latter's importance and usefulness. But the reiterated that such a decision must be made only after a thorough, profound, and realistic study of conditions and outlooks, and that this study must include an analysis of foreign market possibilities. The Premier added that it is indispensable, after the decision is made, for all efforts to be directed along the same line, so as not to waste resources or time on inopportune experiments or subjective ideas. "Here," he said, "we must reach the planning level where each production unit will know what it is to do and where each group will know what it is to do; and where they even will know that resources are not going to be supplied in greater amounts to those places which enjoy better conditions for advancing." He added: "It is necessary to undertake development by regions, where natural conditions are better . . . (PRENSA LATINA ellipsis). This cannot be done in a day, but in the future the whole agricultural planning policy must be on the basis of rational utilization of resources." Castro said that "one reason why many people cannot solve their problems is that the neighbor does not help them, and there is no immediate higher authority to distribute the work force." As an example, he gave the case of livestock production units that do not collaborate properly with cane production units, and vice versa. He also announced that "quotas for wage payments must be strictly established according to the work that is being done," a move that will channel agriculture toward a greater contribution to the nation's economic development. "There must be a leap forward in quality in agriculture, so that agriculture will not be a production sector which fails to contribute to the economy and is even a loss to the economy, but will become a sector of our national economy that pays the nation dividends," he exclaimed. "It is our hope that after all the efforts which are going to be made, which the country is going to make in agriculture, the time will come when agriculture contributes hundreds of millions of pesos to the national economy, besides meeting every consumption need it can, for both the people and industry." The Premier then discussed the attitude which must be adopted by the people and their leaders toward mistakes made in the economy. "We know what things go badly, and it is good fortune to begin knowing this," he said, "and we know that many things are going badly, but it is fortunate to know it." He added: "In the same way, we know that many things used to go badly but that now there are fewer of these. In this I am talking about the whole, all of the nation's economy. Many things are going badly. I repeat, fewer things are going badly now, but we can conclude no truce with the things that are still wrong." Fidel Castro stressed that the points of shortcoming still present many appreciable obstacles to the nation's progress. "That battle must be won, and with the full authority and moral right the revolution has for waging it and winning it." He repeated: "The revolution is going to win that battle, because it has tremendous strength. The battle against the remaining defects that hamper the country's development and future must be won. That battle must be won!" Further on, he acknowledged that "farm work is extraordinarily hard, but luckily the revolution has possibilities no other revolution had in resources and in the system of land ownership. Why is this? Because we utilize the best land in the nation as national property, (we are--Ed.) in a position to rationalize agricultural production in a way never done before anywhere else." Fidel remarked: "If we make good use of all these possibilities, we will make a great leap forward. And we are in a position for it, because this whole period has been one of experimentation, information, research, reorganization, a study of organizations and final forms; a period of full knowledge of the realities we face, of orientation, of orientation regarding what we must do." Elsewhere in his talk, Fidel Castro spoke of the need for all Cubans to study, to prepare themselves for a general education and in technical culture applied to each individual's duties and tasks. In particular, he stressed the need to study to train the worker, to develop and improve techniques so as to achieve a wider development fast. The Premier called ignorance "our chief enemy" inlaying the new foundations of the national economy and expanding them progressively. He therefore stressed the importance of adequate training for men called on to direct production in every place of work. He gave the example of what has been done in poultry production, where the young people who trained for that sector of the economy are performing a task highly advantageous to the country. "Many people not only lack technical knowledge," he said, "but also the most elementary economic sense;. they do not care at all how much they spend; they never estimate how much they spend or how much they take in. Furthermore, it could not have been otherwise, because, after all, it was the common people who had never had a chance to go to school or study, who had to take many tasks upon themselves. But that is no longer the case; the time of flightiness and whims is past." Later the Premier said: "We have to show what we are capable of as a people, as a nation. The Cuban has to show what he is capable of, and we are not going to let the spirit of the loafers and the ignorant rule--the spirit of the irresponsible, the spirit of the apathetic, of the indolent and the pessimistic. That spirit is not going to rule here." He repeated: "Here the spirit that rules must be that of the responsible, diligent people, who are aware, who know what they are doing, who are disciplined, who know that technical skill must be used. And therefore the school must always be alongside the shop, joined to every plan." In this connection Fidel Castro advised that not only should technical schools teach about the facts of work on the basis of existing conditions and the difficulties that will be faced, but also that this teaching should be entrusted to the persons with the greatest experience, knowledge, and understanding of the country's needs and plans. Fidel Castro then announced that when the new organization is introduced in agriculture, the narrow sector concept that has continued to exist in production will be eradicated. He said that to this end, production will be organized in keeping with real goals--high but attainable--which will be assigned to the various production groups as the latter are established. "At the head of each of these groups there must be one persons bearing the chief responsibility; he must be selected from the best cadres, and nothing will free him from blame if he does not do his work well." The Premier also remarked that with this organization, greater individual responsibility at work will also be achieved. "I am sure," he said, "there are many very valuable, very competent comrades who can be counted on to accomplish this. And then the work force, like resources and equipment, will go where it is needed. If we make special efforts to do our duty, the others must be required to make every effort to do theirs. If we live with the obsession of doing our duty to satisfy the people's needs and improve their living conditions, the same must be required of others," Fidel Castro said. "And luckily, there is an awareness in the people; there have been forward steps in the quality of the awareness among the people. This can be seen during talks with the people. Everybody already is learning to see the loafer as the worst enemy, the parasite as th worst enemy." He stressed: "And I tell you, here there is not merely an anti-imperialist and antibourgeois spirit; there is even an anti-petit bourgeois spirit . . . (Prensa Latina ellipsis). The facts of life have been teaching the people to have even an anti-petit bourgeois spirit." As another manifestation of the revolutionary awareness acquired by the people, the Premier noted that "there is serious concern for meeting deadlines, for increasing work productivity, and for not raising the wage base, because what must be increased is the production for material goods; anything else is an economic swindle." Still, he said, "we must improve our work in planning, in organizing production. We must devote special attention to agriculture; this must be done by the party and the government, by all organizations, in the knowledge that agriculture is the foundation of our economic development, and our principal effort must be devoted to it. The Premier indicated that this general improvement in work must serve to solve the problems that remain--such as bureaucracy, lack of organization or imperfect organization, slow and needlessly complicated dealings, and so on. "In many ways, we still have to find the best means. There will be methods to change, organizations and systems to change. We will still have to go on doing this, but that is no reason for despair or for being pessimistic. We must be more optimistic, because things are beginning to be clearer than at any other time." The Premier said that "everything must be done rationally, on the basis of what we have, because we must do all we can, but we must not try to do more than we can." In conclusion, Fidel Castro referred to the broad horizon of the nation's future, and asked: "Why should we not seize this opportunity, the opportunity now offered us by a revolution under which antagonistic class interests have disappeared, where all the resources of the nation can be utilized on a planned basis and can be channeled in a direction enabling us to train all the cadres and technicians we need?" He ended his talk by asking the audience: "Are you sure or are you not sure that we can? We can? All right, then: Since we can, we are going to. We are going to." -END-