Cuban state-run newspaper Granma announced yesterday that farmers will be allowed to by-pass the state and sell their produce directly to tourist businesses as of the 1st December 2011.
Cubans had previously had to go through government middlemen, but now they will be allowed to take their produce to market themselves.
The officials said the change is aimed at improving the variety and quality of food available to the tourist sector, as well as cutting transportation costs and reducing food losses that have been a problem in recent years.
According to Granma, the reform will allow farmers to “develop mechanisms to supply tourist entities and take better advantage of the potential of all forms of local means of production”.
This is the latest in a host of recent market-orientated reforms announced by the country’s Communist government. Others include the recent liberalising of car and home sales.
