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New Study Praises Organic Food
Revolution in Cuba

February 25, 2002
Report terms Cuban organics initiative a great success

Food Chemical News Publishing (FCN Publishing) Subscription: $ 957.00 per year.
Published weekly. 1725 K St., N.W., Ste 506, Washington, DC 20006-1401.

Cuba's efforts to cut pesticide use through the promotion ofsustainable
agriculture is described as a tremendous achievement by a new report
from Food First.

Also known as the Institute for Food Development Policy, Food First
released the multi-author report earlier this month. The group said most of
the authors are Cuban agricultural experts, whose examination of the farming
initiative "represents the first time Cubans have made public the details of
this enormous agricultural transformation." Cuba, says the report, embarked on
this initiative in 1990 when the collapse of trade relations with the
Soviet Union brought the country to the brink of a national food crisis. Already
the target of a 30-year economic embargo by the United States, the loss of the
Soviet Union as a trading partner meant Cuba lost its ability to import
food. It also was no longer able to import the chemicals and machines needed to
grow food using conventional technology.

A successful switch

Since then, Cuba has successfully switched from chemical-intensive,
to sustainable, agriculture. "This fascinating case," the report
argues, demonstrates that organic agriculture can work as the basis of an
entire nation's farming sector. The notion that organic agriculture could
never feed the world is a myth, according to the authors of the report.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, "a modern and industrialized
agricultural system had to face the challenge of increasing food production while
maintaining production for export, all with more than a 50% drop in
the availability of agricultural inputs, said Fernando Fuenes, a
principal researcher of the book-length report.

"In the early 1990s, a strong, urban agriculture was born in which
thousands of people produced food using organic methods that help supply basic
foodstuffs to urban families," he added. "The effectiveness of organic techniques
in urban gardening has been clearly demonstrated. It is here that we are
possibly closest to the ideal of sustainable agriculture, due in part to the
prohibition on the use of chemicals because of the proximity to dense human
populations."

Cuban strategies

During the interim period of the transformation, the report notes,
Cuba implemented the following measures:
* Decentralization of the state farm sector through new production structures
* Land distribution to encourage production of different crops in various regions
* Reduction of specialization in agricultural production
* Renewed use of animal traction
* Promotion of urban, family and community gardening movements
* Opening of farmers' markets under supply-and-demand conditions
* Production of biological pest controls and biofertilizers.

During this period, the report says, "the U.S tightened the economic
blockade of Cuba with the 1992 approval of [legislation] barring shipments of
food and medical supplies by overseas subsidiaries of U.S. companies."
Nevertheless, the report adds, Cuba managed to methodically reduce
its reliance on external, agricultural inputs, such as pesticides and chemical
fertilizers.

Prior to the transformation, Cuba was spending $ 80 million annually
on pesticides. But the agricultural model in Cuba was showing signs of
economic, ecological and social problems such as over-specialization,
mono-cropping and excessive intensification. The country also faced large-scale
deforestation and heavy rural-urban migration, which reduced the rural population by
nearly two- thirds, according to the report.

However, the report continues, referring to the assumption of power
by Fidel Castro, the powerful social transformations brought about by the
Revolution prevented thousands of farmers from being driven into poverty by the
bankruptcies.

Copies of the report, "Sustainable Agriculture and Resistance:
TransformingFood Production in Cuba," is available for $ 18.95 at:
www.foodfirst.org.