The Cuban land tenure laws and some of their economic effects upon sugar production

Farm tenure is found among the more interesting areas of study in Land Economics. During the first half of the present century, many agricultural economists have been attracted toward this discipline. Particularly in the more advanced nations, considerable progress has been achieved by the use of better public policies in the development of the bundle of rights included and given by society to the tiller of the soil.

Farm tenure has particular importance in all those areas where agriculture is the largest and more important industry. In the Latin American countries, the more important enterprise, even today, is agriculture. Consequently, the main market for the labor force is also found in this industry. In this particular region of the western hemisphere during the past thirty years, and under present conditions, farm tenure has been considered by agricultural economists, as well as by other professionals (agronomists, etc.), among the more necessary areas of study if rapid economic development and the improvement of the level of living in those countries are the main objectives.

To this writer the subject matter of land tenure is particularly important in this part of the world, because of the effects of the first farm tenure institutions established during the colonial period by the Spanish Crown. Some North American investigators have indicated their belief that among the causes of the slow development in this region the manorial tenure system can be considered as an important determinant factor.

Cuba is one of those nations which has showed during the last twenty-five years a true interest in the solution of the farm tenure problems. Today, when the Cuban agrarian legislation is compared with that from the other Latin countries, her place is in the group of the more advanced.