-DATE-
19901226
-YEAR-
1990
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
-AUTHOR-
-HEADLINE-
Seventh Session of National Assembly Opens 26 Dec
-PLACE-
ANNEX / Cuba
-SOURCE-
Havana PRENSA LATINA
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS-LAT-91-006-A
-REPORT_DATE-
19910109
-HEADER-
BRS Assigned Document Number:    000000392
Report Type:         Daily Report             AFS Number:     PA2612195090
Report Number:       FBIS-LAT-91-006-A        Report Date:    09 Jan 91
Report Series:       Latin America            Start Page:     2
Report Division:     ANNEX                    End Page:       3
Report Subdivision:  Cuba                     AG File Flag:   
Classification:      UNCLASSIFIED             Language:       Spanish
Document Date:       26 Dec 90
Report Volume:       Wednesday Vol VI No 006-A

Dissemination:  FOUO

City/Source of Document:   Havana PRENSA LATINA

Report Name:   ANNEX

Headline:   Seventh Session of National Assembly Opens 26 Dec

Subheadline:   Castro on Field Workers' Conditions

Source Line:   PA2612195090 Havana PRENSA LATINA in Spanish 1809 GMT 26 Dec
90--FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

-TEXT-
FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE:
1.  [Text] Havana, 26 Dec (PL)--Fidel Castro said today serious mistakes since
1975 have affected Cuban agriculture, which now is undergoing a renewal
process.

2.  The Cuban president is participating in the sessions of the National
Assembly of the People's Government (ANPP) that began its work at the
Convention Palace today.

3.  The first two sessions of the top government organ will especially be
devoted to food production, while on the last day, Friday, 29 December, a Villa
Clara Province report will be read to the forum, among other things.

4.  If we do not create optimum conditions for field workers, they will work in
other less harsh activities, Fidel Castro cautioned.

5.  The hardest work right now in Cuba is planting and tending vegetable
gardens because that cannot be mechanized, he noted.

6.  It is even harder than the work in the sugar cane plantations, he said,
because that activity was highly mechanized in past years.

7.  We must promote joint work among small-scale (private) farmers, cooperative
members, and state farms, he stated.

8.  In a conversation with the director of a farming enterprise located in
Guines municipality, Havana Province, the top Cuban leader mentioned the work
of volunteers who are currently working in the harvest areas.

9.  Reynaldo Capote, a man with vast experience in the agricultural sector and
the director of the enterprise, stated that all mobilized brigades are
exceeding their goals daily. ``There is even a group of young people who
managed to exceed the goal by 250 percent,'' Capote disclosed.

10.  We are creating better living conditions for agricultural workers, so they
can feel heartened, said the leader of the revolution, whom ANPP President Juan
Escalona called ``Deputy Fidel Castro,'' as is appropriate for the Assembly of
this country.

11.  Fidel Castro noted that new agricultural communities are of a high quality
in terms of construction and conditions. He had high praise for the presence of
basic and pre-university secondary level schools in the fields, who, he said,
``have been the soul'' of many agricultural plans.

12.  It is a disgrace that some products are lost in the fields while the
residents of nearby towns are not even aware of the situation, he remarked. I
do not believe that the half days of volunteer work were all that effective. I
prefer those that are organized now for 15 days or more, with the participation
of people from the cities, who return feeling very satisfied.

13.  Their behavior is exemplary, the Cuban president remarked.
-END-