The delegates represent 200,000 farmers in Cuba, of which 150,000 own their land individually or collectively, and the rest are family members who work with them. Some 28,000 of the members are women. At the first plenary session the delegates discussed their efforts to improve production of several important crops, including sugar cane, tobacco, and coffee. For each crop, ANAP delegates discussed and adopted goals for the next year. Later they discussed raising overall production, reducing costs, and making more meat, milk, and vegetables available for sale at markets in the towns and cities at lower prices.
Crop yields vary greatly from cooperative to cooperative.
Delegates from coops that have increased production explained how they have done it, discussing the importance of a stable workforce, of careful and accurate accounting, and above all of leadership. A woman from Guant namo described how her coop increased milk production and undercut price-gougers in the local farmers market. Virtually all dairy cattle are milked by hand in Cuba. There is a milk shortage, some farmers explained, due to the drought that has affected the region in the last couple of years, and due to the shortage of feed. Production contracted by an estimated 35 percent between 1989 and 1993.