By Nelson Acosta HAVANA, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Cuba on Wednesday began taking applications from private farmers seeking more land as part of President Raul Castro's effort to boost food production in the import-dependent island nation. The government accelerated the process after two powerful hurricanes struck in recent weeks and devastated crops virtually the entire length of Cuba. The reforms, announced in July, include the offer of up to 100 acres (40 hectares) for individual farmers, who can lease it for 10 years, with a chance for renewal if they are productive. In the eastern Havana suburb of Alamar, a dozen people waited in line to fill out applications for land. They said it was a chance to help their country and put more money in their pockets. Under the new law, they will have the right to keep or sell what they produce. "It's a good opportunity for everybody, us and the state," said Rogelio Andino, 45, who grows bananas and yucca on his current property and plans to add corn, beans, tomatoes and lettuce to his production. Housewife Normelvis Miranda said her only agricultural experience was a garden on the patio of her house, but she was seeking land to help the country recover from Hurricanes Ike and Gustav. "This is the only way that we are going to rise up," she said. The government said the storms did a combined $5 billion in damages, which includes the destruction of at least 137,000 acres (55,440 hectares) of crops. Nearly all of Cuba's sugarcane was flattened or flooded by the hurricanes. Gustav swept western Cuba with 150-mph (240-kph) winds on Aug. 30. Ike struck eastern Cuba on Sept. 7 with 120-mph (195-kph) winds and 15 inches (38 cm) of rain, then cut southeast across the island, entered the Caribbean and hit western Cuba on a similar path to Gustav. The communist-run country, which imports 85 percent of its food, already was struggling with rising costs for fuel and imports before the storm. Castro has said that the amount of land under cultivation has fallen 33 percent in the last decade. Only about 45 percent of Cuba's arable land is being farmed, according to official statistics. (Editing by Jeff Franks, Michael Christie and Xavier Briand)
Meat and frozen food cases stand empty at a Food Town grocery store on the north side of Houston operating on generator power to serve their customers as residents search for ...
