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Cuba puts unused land to work for farming

HAVANA, Cuba (AP) -- Cuba is lending unused land to private farmers and cooperatives as part of a sweeping effort to revitalize a floundering agricultural sector and step up food production.

Government television said Tuesday that 51 percent of arable land is underused or fallow, a problem officials hope to rectify by temporarily transferring some of it to private farmers and associations representing small, private producers.

The president of Cuba's national farmers association, Orlando Lugo, said "everyone who wants to produce tobacco will be given land to produce tobacco," and it will be the same for coffee or anything else.

The government began dolling out land last year, but announced the program this week.

It was not clear how much land had been transferred and under what terms