Latin American Network Information Center - LANIC

-DATE-
19810313
-YEAR-
1981
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
9TH PLENUM OF ANAP
-PLACE-
CUBA
-SOURCE-
HAVANA DOMESTIC SVC
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19810217
-TEXT-
Further on ANAP Speech

F1132258 Havana Domestic Service in Spanish 1800 GMT 13 Feb 81

[Excerpts] Our Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, first secretary of the PCC
Central Committee and president of the Council of State and Ministers, has
closed the ninth plenum of the National Association of Small Farmers
[ANAP].

In his closing speech, Fidel noted that the spirit of struggle and work in
the country had never been so much in evidence as at present. He added that
in this regard, the sugar harvest is obvious proof; examples of good work,
greater organization and better supply could be seen in this harvest. He
said we are carrying out the most efficient harvest in all the revolution's
history as regards grinding.

He then spoke of the gigantic work being done in connection with the
preparation of lands for the spring sugarcane planting. He noted that all
the land should be plowed by 31 March. He said that all the sugarcane
expected in this harvest will have been ground by 30 April. He said he was
pleased because the harvest showed that socialism was capable of achieving
higher harvest results than in the past inasmuch as the capitalists were
never able to grind at more than a 90 percent rate on a regular basis.

He spoke of the work to prepare the lands for the great spring sugarcane
planting. He noted the outstanding work of the men who make up the
agricultural machinery teams working in the preparation of the land to
plant almost 30,000 caballerias of sugarcane. He said that more than 400
caballerias are being plowed each day. He recalled that we must have all
the land plowed so that when the rains come we may be able to start
planting. In this connection, he said that thousands of caballerias are
going to be planted following the raised bed or ridges system to avoid
losses. Fidel also spoke of the high productivity planting techniques that
have been applied so that 15 or 16 people can plant one caballeria every 3
days. In the past about 200 people were needed to plant one caballeria in a
single day.

Our commander in chief then went on to speak about tobacco and said that
that crop was another example of the spirit of work of the people. He
recalled how the rains and Hurricane Allen ruined what had been done, and
everything had to be done all over again. He added for this reason, almost
1 month of work was lost but the work continued, nevertheless, and chances
are that the tobacco harvest will set a historic record.

Our commander in chief also discussed agricultural-livestock cooperatives.
In this regard, he said that the cooperatives are the most valuable lesson
of recent times in our countryside. He said that cooperatives are a hope
for the country and that they show a much better utilization of land, a
greater participation by women and a broad involvement by men and women of
all ages in creative work.

The first secretary of our party referred to the work methods employed in
the cooperatives and noted that many of them can be used very well in the
state sector. Concerning production in the mountains, Fidel said that
cooperatives are the best answer. He said the basic production in that area
is in timber and coffee. Fidel also highlighted the spirit to work and save
prevailing in the agricultural-livestock cooperatives, and he dwelt on the
way in which agricultural equipment and machinery are taken care of. He
said that many positive results can be contributed to the 6th ANAP congress
scheduled for May 1982 [originally set for December 1981] and that the
event, at which an evaluation of all the work carried out by the ANAP will
be done, can become a great incentive for the ANAP.

He mentioned that the 20th anniversary of the ANAP will be celebrated on 17
May and noted that the mass organization has contributed extraordinarily to
the revolution and given valuable support to the party.

Fidel said that we are living in special times which can be defined by two
fundamental tasks: production and defense. Regarding the international
political situation, he said that circumstances force us to emphasize
defense as much as production.

And he added: Defense is not waste of time just as production is not. He
said that to prepare for defense is to protect our right to work,
development, progress and life. Our commander in chief reiterated that
without efforts for defense, we are not neglecting our efforts for creative
work and the country's progress. He emphasized: One does not have to be at
odds with the other. On the contrary, the stronger we are militarily, the
better we protect our economic effort and the stronger we will be in
political and social terms.
-END-


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