After the Cuban Revolution’s victory in early 1959, the new government treated rural inequality and foreign-owned large estates as urgent political and economic problems. Land reform was framed as a foundation for wider social change and for reshaping Cuba’s agricultural economy.
On May 17, 1959, the government promulgated the First Agrarian Reform Law, setting limits on large landholdings and authorizing expropriation of land above those limits. The law aimed to end large estates (latifundia) and redirect land toward state farms, cooperatives, or smaller holdings.
The National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA) was established in 1959 to administer the agrarian reform program and oversee expropriated lands. INRA became a powerful institution that organized land redistribution, credit, production planning, and rural infrastructure projects.
By early June 1959, implementation moved from announcement to administration: lands above the legal limits were taken over for redistribution or state management. Compensation rules and valuation methods became a major point of contention, especially for foreign owners of large agricultural properties.
In the early 1960s, INRA increasingly emphasized large, state-managed farms and new cooperative forms as it tried to raise output and bring agriculture under centralized direction. This phase tested how to replace private management with wage labor and administrative planning in the countryside.
In 1961, the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP) was created to represent and organize small private farmers within the new rural order shaped by agrarian reform. It helped connect smallholders to state credit, technical support, and cooperative arrangements while the state sector grew.
On October 3, 1963, a Second Agrarian Reform Law sharply reduced the maximum size of private farms and expanded state control over land. This change targeted medium-sized Cuban-owned farms and accelerated the shift toward a predominantly state-run agricultural system.
Following the second reform, INRA’s role was formalized and reorganized to function more like a ministry, reflecting its expanded responsibilities beyond land transfer. This marked a move from a revolutionary agency model toward a more permanent state administration of agriculture.
After the 1963 law, a large majority of farmland moved under government control, with private ownership restricted mainly to smaller producers. This made agricultural planning and state farm administration central to national food and export strategies.
Through the mid-to-late 1960s, the state consolidated large-scale farm structures and management layers to run production, labor, and inputs. This institutional shift reduced the role of market signals and increased reliance on administrative plans and state supply systems.
By the mid-1970s, Cuba continued consolidating agricultural administration within a more standardized state structure. This transition prepared for transferring INRA’s remaining functions into a dedicated agriculture ministry framework.
In 1976, INRA’s functions were transferred to Cuba’s Ministry of Agriculture (MINAG), marking the end of INRA as the central agrarian reform institution. This shift closed the 1959–1975 reform phase by embedding land and rural policy in the regular ministerial system rather than a revolutionary reform agency.
Cuban Agrarian Reform and the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA) (1959–1975)