Cuba: organic island

Occasionally in the Examiner (every thursday, farming supplement) I write about different countries to Ireland, where organics are at a more advanced stage. So far, that's been Austria, Denmark and Cuba. The cuba article is below:

In the world of political philosophy, there are different types of freedom. You can have freedom to do stuff, or freedom from various types of wants. Cuba is, by Central American and Caribbean standards, a good example of the latter and a bad example of the former. So, for example, they have good health and education standards, but no open press or proper elections.

They have another thing too: Cuba feeds its population on locally produced organic food. You may of course not see this reality if you go to a five star compound on a two week holiday in Cuba. When Dr. Dr. Micheline Sheehy-Skeffington, an NUI Galway Botanist, spoke of her experiences in Cuba at a conference last year, the odd attendee who had donethe compound holiday seemed incredulous.

But the story of organic agriculture in Cuba is fascinating. Cuban agriculture was intensive, monocultural and export-orientated up until 1989. They exported commodities like tobacco and sugar to the Soviet bloc. They also relied on the Soviet bloc for subsidized inputs, including both fertilizers and fuel. They had, for example, been using c.200 kg of imported subsidized nitrates per hectare in farming in this period.

Needless to say, Cuba found itself in a tricky situation when the Soviet Bloc collapsed. What it did then was to essentially reorganise the production, distribution, consumption and to some extent control of agriculture. And they chose the organic route.

Of course �chose� is perhaps too strong a word; there was also an embargo/blockade, which prevented these inputs from getting to the island. However, facing a serious decline in nutritional levels throughout the 1990s, the transformation of Cuban agriculture has been impressive. There have been changes in state policy, in research and education, in control of production and distribution and of course in practices

Here is a summary of the changes:

� Integrated Pest Management
� Organic fertilizers and biofertilizers
� Soil conservation and recuperation
� Animal traction and alternative energy
� Inter cropping and crop rotation
� Mixing crops and animal production
� Alternative mechanization
� Community participation
� Alternative Veterinary Medicine
Adjusting to local conditions
� Reversing rural migration to cities
� Increasing cooperative use of land
� Improving agrarian research
� Changing agrarian education

� Biopesticides

� worker-managed collectives

� quotas for farmers to insure adequate supply for the whole country;

� farmers' markets where excess food crops can be sold by farmers for profit.

During the 1990s the embargo/blockage was tightened, in 1992 and 1996. However, the nutritional levels of Cubans were, from the mid 1990s on, rising, not falling, a trend which continues to this day.

Urban agriculture has been central to this, especially in a context whereby little if any fuel was available to transport food around.

According to Dr. Nelso Campanioni Concepci�n, deputy director of the National Institute for Fundamental Research on Tropical Agriculture (INIFAT), "The goal of urban agriculture is to gain the most food from every square meter of available space. The secret to the success of urban agriculture in Cuba has been the introduction of new technologies and varieties and an increase in areas farmed."

In 2002, Cuba produced 3.2 million tons of fruit, vegetables and spices in urban farms and gardens on over 35,000 hectares of urban land. Another 2,800 vegetable gardens are expected to be established by the end on 2006.

This is a classic example of necessity breeding ingenuity, and adversity producing abundance. Cubans get fresh organic produce to eat each day, no worries about pesticide drift in built up areas, and no Co2 emissions created.

Dr. Lisa Reynolds has visited Cuba on fact finding missions many times. In her most recent report, she pointed to a number of positive changes. Despite insufficient rainfall and recurring drought in eastern areas, the �agroecological techniques� introduced have stabilised the countryside. Likewise, the introduction of privately-owned farms, co-operatives and a diversified market-based system has increased productivity.

If you want to see this Cuba:

The Cuban Organic Support Group (established in 1997 by members of the Henry Doubbelday Research Association - HDRA) arrange trips. (00 44 24 7667 3491 and http://www.cosg.org.uk/ )

Likewise, WowCuba also arrange agri-trips. See http://www.wowcuba.com/discovery/ag-intro.html