The National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP) is a cooperative federation dedicated to promoting the interests of small farmers 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...

. ANAP has over 300,000 members.

History

ANAP was formed in 1961 and its membership was limited to farmers whose land holdings were less than 67 hectares. The Cuban government supported ANAP by providing interest-free loans to its members. Second Agrarian Reform Law of October 1963, introduced the State control over medium and large (over 67 hectares) agricultural estates. While medium and large farms accounting 11.4 million hectares of land were put under control of the newly created State-controlled National Land Reform Institute (INRA), small farmers, owning 7.2 million hectares of land, were organized in ANAP association.

In 1966 together with the Federation of Cuban Women

Federation of Cuban Women

The Federation of Cuban Women was established in 1960 under the revolutionary government with Vilma Espín as its president. Espin fought in the Sierra Maestras with Fidel Castro and Raul Castro and married Raul in 1959. She was the president of the FMC till her death in 2007. From its inception...

 (FMC) the FMC-ANAP Mutual Aid Brigades were established aiming to help rural women become more economically active outside the home. FMC-ANAP brigades increased available rural labour force at critical moments in the agricultural cycle

Agricultural cycle

The Agricultural cycle is the annual cycle of activitites related to the growth and harvest of a crop. These activities include loosening the soil, seeding, special watering, moving plants when they grow bigger, and harvesting, among others....

, and were instrumental in the campaign to increase the sugarcane

Sugarcane

Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...

 harvest in Cuba

In 1977 ANAP supported the gradual transformation of the private sector. Individual farmers were endorsed to voluntarily join production co-operatives. By 1987 co-operative farms were accounting for 63% of private land holdings. Altogether 1,400 co-operative farms had 68,000 co-operative members.

Currently ANAP members produce 52% of the vegetables, 67% of the corn, and 85% of the tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

 grown in Cuba

Activities

ANAP provides training, agricultural extension and other services to its members. Federation often negotiates with Cuban government on prices of agricultural production, credits, and other farmers' interests.

Internationally ANAP cooperates with NGOs, mainly from Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. In 1995 the Cuban Organic Agriculture Exchange Program was started in cooperation with the US organization the Institute for Food and Development Policy.