Peggy Adams
"How we eat determines to a considerable extent how the world is used."
Wendell Berry
>>
>>Also on the world wide web at:
>>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/02/21
>>/MN102237.DTL
>>
>>*****************************************************************************
>>
>>$B%%(J1998 San Francisco Chronicle * Page A1 * Saturday, February 21, 1998
>>
>>PAGE ONE -- Cuba Turns to Mother Earth
>>With fertilizers and fuel scarce, organic farming is in
>>
>>Robert Collier, Chronicle Staff Writer
>>
>>After four decades of communism, Cuba is reluctantly pushing ahead with a
>>new experiment that is no less revolutionary and may turn out to be much
>>more successful -- organic farming.
>>
>>The change, forced on the government by a catastrophic economic crisis, has
>>allowed Cubans to survive and has eliminated the specter of widespread
>>hunger.
>>
>>>From the streets of Havana to fields throughout the island, Cuba has gone
>>ultra-environmentalist.
>>
>>What was the most mechanized agricultural system in Latin America has been
>>turned into the world's largest area under organic and semi-organic
>>farming.
>>
>>Manure has replaced chemical fertilizers, worms have replaced insecticides,
>>oxen have replaced tractors. And a new land reform program has broken up
>>most of the nation's huge state farms and given the land to their workers,
>>creating an innovative system of profit-driven cooperatives.
>>
>>The shift has pulled Cuba back from its economic collapse after the fall of
>>the Soviet Union. The end of Soviet supplies and subsidies caused a more
>>than 80 percent drop in supplies of pesticides and fertilizers, and a 50
>>percent cut in fuel and spare parts.
>>
>>That put a stranglehold on Cuban farm production, which dropped by nearly
>>one-half between 1990 and 1994, and cut Cubans' daily caloric and protein
>>intake by one-third.
>>
>>The country is still strapped for cash and cannot afford to buy
>>agricultural supplies on the world market. But its switch to organic
>>techniques has almost completely reversed the drop in farm production.
>>
>>Spearheading the effort are people like Heriberto Gallart.
>>
>>The former professor of education at a Havana university, who says he quit
>>his job ``because my salary didn't even pay for my expenses getting to and
>>from work each day,'' is one of Cuba's new breed of urban organic
>>gardeners.
>>
>>Since late 1994, he and his extended family have tended a two- acre garden
>>in a Havana residential neighborhood, growing 20 kinds of vegetables and
>>herbs with intensive organic techniques. The government allows him to use
>>the land -- formerly a garbage dump -- and has given him tools, seeds and
>>other equipment. Agriculture Ministry extension agents have helped him
>>develop a green thumb.
>>
>>``This isn't exactly something I ever expected to be doing,'' Gallart said.
>>``But my family and I live better than I did before, and my neighbors are
>>getting cheaper food.''
>>
>>Gallart and his family sell all their food at a street-side stand at the
>>edge of their field. Their prices are about one-third lower than in the
>>city's ``farmer's markets,'' the capitalist-style food markets that sell
>>food from cooperatives and private farmers nationwide.
>>
>>The money is good, at least in Cuban terms. Gallart says that each member
>>of his family makes about 550 pesos per month from the garden -- about $25,
>>or twice the average Cuban wage.
>>
>>Nationwide, the changes have been dramatic:
>>
>>-- Cities. Since 1991, more than 27,000 organic gardens covering 5,000
>>acres have been created in the Havana metropolitan area, producing an
>>estimated 1 million tons of food annually. Garden sites are usually vacant
>>or abandoned plots in the same neighborhood or even next door to the
>>gardeners' homes.
>>
>>-- Countryside. A 1993 government decision to break up the enormous state
>>farms that accounted for 80 percent of Cuban agriculture has turned most of
>>those farms into profit-seeking cooperatives. As a result, Cuba had record
>>levels of production for 10 of the 13 principal domestic food items in the
>>1997 growing season.
>>
>>-- Markets. Parallel to these changes, the possession of U.S. dollars was
>>legalized, and the new cooperatives were allowed to sell all their excess
>>food production -- after fulfilling fixed quotas to the state -- in dollars
>>to the newly created farmers' markets.
>>
>>-- Organics. The government began to promote organic techniques
>>aggressively, assigning hundreds of agricultural extension scientists to
>>the task. More than 200 factories were created to produce beneficial
>>insects and pest pathogens.
>>
>>Independent experts say the changeover is an example for poor nations --
>>and even for the United States.
>>
>>``Cuba's switch to organic methods shows that developing countries don't
>>have to adopt the model that is always taught as the only one available,''
>>said Peter Rosset, executive director of the Institute for Food and
>>Development Policy. The Oakland-based institute, also known as Food First,
>>works extensively with Cuba's organic sector and organizes exchange
>>programs with U.S. organic farmers.
>>
>>``The Cuban experience tells us that we can feed a nation's population with
>>a small-farm model based on alternative technology and without chemical
>>pesticides, and in so doing we can become more self-reliant in food
>>production,'' he said.
>>
>>The change has been most crucial in Havana, which, with about 2.3 million
>>inhabitants, is home to one-fifth of the nation's population and is the
>>biggest city in the Caribbean. Historically, virtually no food was grown
>>within city limits, so the capital's residents were hardest hit by the
>>crisis of the early '90s.
>>
>>Rosset, who has traveled frequently to Cuba in recent years, says the
>>change is visible to the naked eye:
>>
>>``People were so thin in '93 and '94, almost emaciated. But now,
>>everybody's weight is more or less back to normal, and some people have
>>their paunches again. Of course, there still are problems -- for example,
>>productivity in the newly formed cooperatives is very uneven, although
>>urban farmers and (landowning) peasants have largely taken up the slack.''
>>
>>The urban gardens also have brought a new sense of community to
>>neighborhoods hard hit by the often-desperate daily struggle for
>>subsistence brought on by the economic crisis.
>>
>>The shortage of fuel has caused a switch to renewable energy sources.
>>Construction of a nuclear power plant has been suspended; windmills, solar
>>panels and biomass generators are increasingly common. All of the nation's
>>sugar mills are now powered by burning waste from the cane.
>>
>>In addition, a bicycle revolution has swept Cuba. The government has
>>imported 1 million bicycles from China in recent years, and the well-marked
>>bicycle lanes throughout Havana and other major cities usually are clogged.
>>
>>
>>The only danger ahead for Cuba's new ecology-mindedness is the possibility
>>of a weakening of the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba. Some Cuban organic
>>supporters worry that if the embargo is loosened, Cuba would partially
>>revert to chemical-intensive agriculture and foreign imports for its food.
>>
>>But that prospect seems unlikely in the short term, given the fierce
>>anti-Castro sentiment in Washington. For the time being, Cuba seems
>>destined to remain a reluctant world leader -- not in Marxism, but in
>>environmentalism.
>>
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