From the city to the fringes: the development of urban agriculture in Cuba

Sarah Griffiths, May 2011

The suns rays are unrelenting, muted only by the acres of black netting suspended over the crops. In a shady hut a group of students from Mexico are listening to a lecture about urban agriculture, whilst workers trundle past with wheelbarrows stacked neatly with carrots, sweetcorn and tomatoes: welcome to Vivero Alamar, one of Cubas most well known urban farms. A green oasis in the midst of the ranks of soviet style apartment blocks which make up the Alamar district of Havana, and which invites a steady stream of pilgrims keen to learn from these hallowed grounds. As one of these such pilgrims I travelled to Cuba in March this year to undertake a ten day programme with the Institute of Tropical Agriculture (INIFAT). Situated in Santiago de las Vegas, a small town on the outskirts of Havana, this institute has pioneered the development of local food growing since the early nineties. From a small experimental station set up in 1904 it now employs over 500 people and is working to find new ways to increase the production of food in a natural and sustainable way. Within their extensive grounds they conduct research in areas such as soil conservation, organic fertilisation and animal husbandry. Nestled within these lush, tropical grounds is their teaching hotel, a beautiful, recently renovated building with its very own classroom. The programme devised for me by their international partnership specialist, Maritza Tabasco Corrales, combined a mixture of field trips and theory. It was on one of the trips that I visited Vivero Alamar and saw first hand the diversity and abundance that Cuban organic agriculture has become famous for. From a country once supported by large scale sugar plantations, imported food and petrochemicals, Cuba is now seen to be an inspiration in terms of innovative, organic and local food production: but it came at a price. When the Soviet Union collapsed at the end of the eighties, the special relationship they shared with Cuba came to a bitter end and the Cuban economy was plunged into free fall. Practically overnight they lost 80% of their import and export markets, and oil supply dropped by half. Added to this was the tightening of the US blockade which saw imports of essential food and medicine drastically cut. Since then the country has faced seismic changes, not least in the way they have coped with extreme food shortages. These days many people hope to learn from the way Cuba dealt with their 'artificial' peak oil situation, in an age where, according to the European Union's energy chief, availability of worldwide oil has already peaked. Add to all this are the changes recently proposed by Raul Castro including measures to increase private business and self employment. In the past few months more than 170,000 licences have been given to new businesses such as hairdressing and restaurants. Whilst there are plans to cut more than one million government jobs, new priorities are being set for increasing employment in agriculture in order to lessen the reliance on expensive food imports which are estimated to cost the country in excess of two billion dollars each year. In the last two years more than 113,000 Cubans have leased land for growing crops, however Reuters reports that discussions at the sixth Communist party congress involved measures needed to encourage young people into farming and ways to turn more unused land into farmland and employment. Indeed it was apparent during my trip that many working the farms and plots are of the same generation as the Castro brothers. Dr Esmeralda Acosta Morffi, specialist in urban agricultural livestock at INIFAT, made the same point - incentives are needed to get people farming. Their strategic framework for urban agriculture lists this as a priority, whether through financial

compensation, support structures or training, every tool at their disposal needs to be employed if the country wants to significantly strengthen their food sovereignty. So how has urban agriculture developed since its inception around 20 years ago? Professor Fernando Funes Monzote, respected Cuban agronomist, outlines three general trends since the 'special period': from monoculture to diversification, from centralisation to decentralisation and from food imports to self sufficiency. These three movements have led to greater efficiency, increased participation and better management of resources. Urban agriculture in Cuba draws heavily on organic practices and permaculture, but farmers and researchers are more interested in finding what works for them, rather than following a particular system or practice. Due to the high efficiency of small scale farms, where 65% of the countrys food is produced on only 25% of the land, over the past three years the government has been redistributing state land to small and medium size municipal and peri-urban farms. In fact the biggest area for growth is now suburban agriculture, with the government committed to creating green food belts around each village, town and city. Adolfo Rodriguez Nodals, director of INIFAT and head of the national urban and suburban agriculture movement, hopes that the suburban agriculture pilot studies can be extended to all 169 municipalities by the end of the year. Developments are also being made said Dr Morffi to increase the amount of reception and processing centres, addressing an issue shared by Fernando Funes that Cuba may well already produce enough food, but lacks the proper distribution systems, storage, processing and packaging needed to allow a swift journey from crop to dinner table. The suburban agriculture programme will itself reduce the amount of wastage by decreasing the distance between field and plate. Together with these new measures there is also a raft of support and networking initiatives. A strong farmer to farmer movement facilitates the exchange of information and a healthy campesino movement, combined with networks of seed farms, circles of interest, and specialist training in areas such as bio fertilisers and beneficial insect reproduction. Key to this support is that offered by the network of agricultural consultation stores. These centres came into being in the early nineties to meet the needs of a population who needed to grow food to survive. They were created by the ministry of agriculture and originally were a place to swap seeds and knowledge, free of charge. Now they are self financing, with profits generated being used to pay workers wages and purchase additional stock. These specialised hubs support the development of urban agriculture through both their consultation services and sales of agricultural products - think of a cross between garden centres and Gardener's Question Time. They sell a wide variety of seeds, plants (edible, medicinal and ornamental), bio fertilisers, bio pest control, books and leaflets, tools and some livestock. The advice they offer covers initial set up and building of gardens and organoponicos (raised bed systems that work in areas where soil conditions are poor), control of pests and diseases, watering systems, pruning, worm culture... the list is extensive. When I visited the local Consultario, preparations were being made to sell the hundred or so chicks that had recently arrived: whilst I was given a tour of the small shop, a steady stream of passersby enquired about the birds. What was striking about my visit to Cuba is the incredible resilience and creativity apparent everywhere. With spare parts for machines and equipment scarce, people are extremely innovative in a make-do-andmend culture. Whether its improvised drying racks for herbs, old table legs providing support for new plants (at the institute for tropical agriculture itself) or the legion of idiosyncratic bikes with improvised trailers, cages, and side cars. Then there is the accepted eking out of supplies: waitresses carefully separating the layers of napkins and refolding them to double the quantity or toilet attendants measuring out the toilet paper sheet by sheet. Also apparent was the small amount of rubbish generated by households; in Santiago de las Vegas, small bags are left by telegraph pole for collection, with hardly a scrap for the wandering dogs to forage for. More profuse were the discarded cans of juice, but these too are diligently collected from rubbish bins to be sold on for recycling. The contrast between this careful conservation of resources and the careless waste that is so much the norm at home was clear, however there is a world of difference between minimising your impact on the environment because you want to or because you have to. With the possibility of greater access to oil due to both the current subsidised imports from Venezuela and the potential reintegration of the country into the world economy, there may be further changes to come. We can only wait and see.

References

Bourque et al (2002) Sustainable agriculture and resistance: Transforming Food production in Cuba. Food first books, California. Caridad Cruz, M. & Sanchez Medina, R. (2003) Agriculture in the city: A Key to sustainability in Havana, Cuba International Development Research Centre, Canada Dunmore, C. (2010) Global oil availability has peaked. Reuters (online) 10/11/10 Available at http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/11/10/eu-energy-oil-idUSBRU01112520101110 [Accessed 04/02/11] Fairweather, J. (2010) How can Cubas sustainable agriculture survive the peace? Solutions for a sustainable future (online) Available at http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/node/554 [Accessed 05/05/11] Franks, J. (2011) Cuba congress embraces, refines Raul Castro reforms. Reuters (online) 18/04/2011 Available at http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/18/us-cuba-congress-idUSTRE73H3WV20110418 (Accessed 03/05/11) Frank, M. (2011) Cuba plans city farms to ease economy woes. The Guardian (online) 07/02/10 Available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/07/cuba-city-farms-economywoes?INTCMP=SRCH [Accessed 05/05/11]