PAGE 3 of 3 Organic vegetables gardens in the cities The proliferation of Farmersą Markets Many positive results from the growth of the organic farm sector |
The "Greening of Cuba" continued Bob Sheak, January 29, 2002 Page 3 Organic vegetables gardens in the cities One of the striking scenes in "The Greening of Cuba" is of a large community organic garden right in a city neighborhood, surrounded by streets and traffic. There are now [in 2000] close to a "100,000 small-to-medium sized urban gardens" across Cuba. In Havana alone, according to Van Cleff, there are 8,000 organic gardens producing a million tons of food annually. The gardens range in size from a few meters to several hectares. The urban farmers primarily grow lettuce, bok choy, onions, chard, radishes, tomato, cabbage and broccoli." Along with local volunteers, "the gardens in just Havana provide employment for from one to 70 people depending on the size of the garden. And people from all walks of life are participating." Sullivan (2000) writes: "One hundred per cent of the produce of these gardens is 100 per cent organic - simply because of a central dictate: no pesticides are allowed inside any city limits. Period. And this comes from the Castro government which is committed to clean food." Baker notes that by the late 1990s, there were "117,000 people working in urban agriculture and that the gardens account for about half the vegetables grown in Cuba" (82). To support the continuation and expansion of urban organic gardening, the Cuban government created in Havana the Urban Agriculture Department, the purposes of which are "to educate and assist the neophyte city gardeners in implementing these new techniques." In addition, Van Cleff (2000) reports, "Small state run stores were established to sell seeds, hand tools, pots and some biological controls and serve as educational sites, offering workshops and advising the urban farmers and gardeners." Van Cleff also refers to how the urban gardeners are incorporating "traditional organic practices," in their "use of worm compost-castings (worm poo) from redworms fed a diet of kitchen scraps. Worm compost is generated quickly and is higher in nitrogen that is more quickly accessible by crops than regular compost." She notes, furthermore, that the urban gardeners "rely heavily on interplanting--where diverse crops are planted together--which discourages the pests that accompany monocrop farming." They are, additionally, "growing green medicine in their urban gardens." Van Cleff writes: "I saw a beautiful green medicine garden grown by one man," she says. He's growing oregano, marjoram, lemon grass, sage, tila (a kind of sedative), chamomile, calendula, aloe. The herbs are processed as teas and tinctures. In half an hour he had eight or nine customers, a steady flow of business." Rosset (2000) provides a useful summary view on urban gardening as follows: "Formerly vacant lots and backyards in all Cuban cities now sport food crops and farm animals, and fresh produce is sold from private stands throughout urban areas at prices substantially below those prevailing in farmers markets. There can be no doubt that urban farming, relying almost exclusively on organic techniques, has played a key role in assuring the food security of Cuban families over the past two to three years" (211). The proliferation of Farmers’ Markets On September 23, 1994, the Cuban government enacted decree-No. 191/94 that legalized "agricultural markets," or mercados agropecuarios (Enriquez 2000). The farmers’ markets proliferated and by the spring of 1998 there were over 300 such markets across Cuba, and about 60 in Havana area alone. Enriquez describes the favorable dynamic that is driving the growth of the farmers’ markets. "The farmers… have taken advantage of these opportunities to market their produce, and producers (from all sectors) have received a warm reception from urban consumers. As a result of their opening, access to food products has fundamentally changed for the better for many consumers-despite the high prices that prevail in the Markets. At the same time, black market sales for most products have been reduced." In some cases, farmers transport their produce to the markets themselves. In other cases, they work with intermediaries who buy from the farmers and then resell at the markets, or who work in a kind of partnership with the farmer. In the following example from her book, The Cuban Way: Capitalism, Communism, and Confrontation, Ana Julia Jatar-Hausmann (1999) provides the following description of a partnership-like relationship between Jorge and Pedro and also some details about how they are taxed. "There is no electricity, poor ventilation, no fans and no refrigeration. But under the hot sun at 35 degrees centigrade, Cubans buy and sell pork, sausages, goats, live hens, vegetables, and fruits" (74). Jorge, a medical student, is a representante. He got a license that allows him to sell at the market. He "doesn’t buy the meat from the farmers, he sells it for them and they share the profits" (74). Pedro is a fifty-five year old farmer who raises pigs. "He does not sell directly to the consumer; his responsibility is to slaughter the animals and transport them from the farm to the market by truck." He has a license to be self-employed; he also has to pay taxes. "He got his truck by trading his old car to a friend working in a cooperative." Pedro says he does not do the selling. Jorge does the selling. Jorge cuts the meat and "is responsible for pricing and selling it." He also pays the taxes and the rent. "Jorge has to pay five percent of his daily sales in taxes, plus 200 pesos a month, 125 pesos per day for the rent of the stand, and an annual tax, the amount of which they have decided upon yet" (74-75). The farmers’ markets have had a number of positive effects and at least one negative effect. They have provided incentives for farmers and coops to increase their production of food, thus expanding the organic-farm sector and meeting some of the food shortages in the cities. The markets have created business opportunities for intermediaries in the distribution of this produce. The overall supply of food has been increased. However, as Enriquez notes at the end of the following quote, not everyone can afford to buy the vegetables, herbs, and meats that are available. "It would appear that the Markets have reached at least some of their objectives. Consumer turn-out has been significant, and with the initial consumer frenzy leveling off, it has become clear that most of the time the supply can meet the demand. By and large, consumers also appear to appreciate the opening of the Markets and consider them to be of considerable assistance in resolving their food problems. Yet, given continuing shortages of food in official channels, prices are quite high in the Markets, which does nothing to undercut the growing pattern of social differentiation and causes resentment among those with less income." Many positive results from the growth of the organic farm sector Rosset (2000) provides the following general assessment. "By mid-1995 the food shortage had been overcome, and the vast majority of the population no longer faced drastic reductions of their basic food supply. In the 1996-97 growing season, Cuba recorded its highest-ever production levels for ten to the thirteen basic food items in the Cuban diet. The production increases came primarily from small farms, and in the case of eggs and pork, from booming backyard production. The proliferation of urban farmers who produce fresh produce has also been extremely important to the Cuban food supply." (210) In a more detailed analysis of the consequences of Cuba’s move from industrial-chemically based agriculture to organic agriculture, Oxfam itemizes the positive consequences as follows. "1. Agricultural production and exports have jumped dramatically over the past five years, with only minor increases in the use of agricultural chemicals and fertilizers. In fact, imports of pesticides and herbicides actually dropped from 1995 to 1998. Cuban farmers have been able to increase production and increase sustainability.
"2. The Cuban people’s diet has improved significantly since the watershed year of the crisis, 1993, thanks to increased domestic production rather than increased food imports. From 1989 to 1994 the per-capita caloric intake had fallen from 2,980 to 1,863 calories. Today the calorie level has risen nearly 40% to 2,585, just below the minimum level (2700) recommended by World Health Organization.
"3. Cuban cities have been revitalized by urban agriculture. By growing food in the cities, urban farmers alone provide nearly enough fresh produce to meet the 300 grams daily of vegetables recommended by the UN FAO." "4. Decentralization and markets are key to the new successes of the Cuban ‘model’ but so far have not produced the kinds of inequities, massive reconcentration of wealth and social dislocation that have occurred in countries undergoing market-based reforms. Agricultural reforms in Mexico in the early 1990s, for example, led to large producers buying out or forcing out small producers, a dramatic rise in rural to urban migration, and prolonged and violent land conflicts. The Cuban government has kept a firm hand on the reforms, rather than let the market forces predominate.
"5. Agricultural policies have strengthened small-scale family and cooperative farming enterprises rather than undermined them. "6. So far Cuba has struck a relative equilibrium between ‘markets,’ which promote growth and reward entrepreneurial initiative, and the ‘social good,’ which ensures fairness and relative social equality." For the development and expansion of the organic farm sector, the Cuban organic farming association, "which has been at the forefront of the country’s transition from industrial to organic agriculture, was named as winner of a major international prize — the Right Livelihood Award — commonly known as the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’" (Mittal 1999). The Cuban organic farming association, or the Grupo de Agricultura Organica, was one of four winners of this award, "chosen from more than 80 candidates from 40 countries." The award was presented at a ceremony in the Swedish Parliament on December 9, 1999, the day before the conventional Nobel Prizes. Mittal describes the activities of the Grupo de Agricultura Organica in the following terms: "GAO brings together farmers, farm managers, field experts, researchers, and government officials to develop and promote organic farming methods. Its aim is to convince Cuban farmers and policy-makers that the country's previous high-input farming model was too import-dependent and environmentally damaging to be sustainable, and that the organic alternative has the potential to achieve equally good yields." "Over the past five years it has built up an impressive program of lobbying, training courses, workshops, documentation centers, demonstration farms, and exchange visits for farmers, and has held three international conferences." While the Alternative Noble Prize went to a specific association of Cuban organic-farm participants, it also implicitly acknowledges the wonderful accomplishments of all of those in Cuban society that contributed to the growth of organic agriculture. Despite the U.S. embargo, the loss of major trading partners, and the prevalence of an inefficient state-farm system of agriculture, Cuba has taken major steps in just a few years toward the creation of a decentralized organically-based agriculture system that has helped to dramatically increase the production of not only food but "clean" food. This is an extraordinary achievement of a small, developing country, and an achievement that serves as an alternative model for the agro-business dominated, environmentally-destructive, agriculture system in the U.S. There is something in the Cuban experience that, at least up until now, encourages innovation without losing sight of the country’s commitments to egalitarian and social values, and a sustainable ecosystem. Viva la Cuba!
Baker, Christopher P. 2000. Cuba (2nd ed). Emeryville CA: Avalon Travel Publishing. Enriquez, Laura J. 2000. Cuba's New Agricultural Revolution: The Transformation of Food Crop Production in Contemporary Cuba. www.foodfirst.org Food First. 2001. "Cuba Leads the World in Organic Farming." www.foodfirst.org Franklin, Jane. 1997. Cuba and the United States: A Chronological History. NY: Ocean Press. Global Citizen. "Cut Off From Global Markets, Cuba Invents a New Agriculture." www.globalcitizen.org or www.foodfirst.org Global Exchange. "Cuba Fact Sheet." www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/cuba/background/factsheet.html
Jatar-Hausmann, Ana Julia. 1999. The Cuban Way: Capitalism, Communism, and Confrontation: Mittal, Anuradha. 1999. "Alternative Nobel Prize Goes to Cuban Group Promoting the Organic Revolution." http://www.foodfirst.org Oxfam America. 1997. "Cuba: Going Against the Grain." (www.oxfamamerica.org/cuba/execsumm.html ) Rosset, Peter M. 2000. "Cuba: A Successful Case Study of Sustainable Agriculture." Pp. 203-213 in Hungry For Profit, eds Fred Magdoff, John Bellamy Foster, and Frederick H. Buttel. NY: Monthly Review Press. Schwab, Peter. 1999. Cuba: Confronting the U.S. Embargo. NY: St. Martin’s Griffin. Sullivan, Robert E. 2000. "Cuba producing, perhaps, ‘cleanest’ food in the world." Earth Times News Service (July 13). Van
Cleef, Lisa. 2000. "The Big Green Experiment: Cuba's Organic Revolution
|
Website copyright © 1999-2002 Rural Action Inc. All rights reserved. Write to webmaster: webworks@ruralaction.org |