Fruit and vegetables production is growing 250% a year
By the BBC's Greg Morsbach from Cuba. Wednesday, 27 June,
2001. BBC News Online
Cuba - one of the world's last socialist regimes - has surprised many
economists by surviving a US trade embargo lasting more than 40 years.
The small Caribbean island nation has continued to defy expectations that
it's about to collapse under the strain of a run-down state economy.
One reason is the radical changes to Cuba's agriculture. A recent report by
the American agency for sustainable farming, Food First, said annual production
of fruit and vegetables is growing at 250% a year.
And the produce is grown without any help from chemical fertilizers,
pesticides or herbicides.
Urban farms
Clara Hernandes is proud to display the fruits of her labour on a small
community farm on the outskirts of Cuba's capital. She produces anything and
everything from eggplants, mint, cucumbers and onions to radishes.
Cuban farm production is growing fast
Much of what she and five other workers grow here will feed an entire
neighbourhood and what's left is sold to foreign diplomats and business people.
Senora Hernandes is in charge of one of hundreds of small urban farms dotted
around, Havana.
Like thousands of other such "huertos" or gardens across Cuba,
hers produces nothing but organic vegetables.
"Last year alone we produced 27 kilograms of vegetables per square
metre. When we first started this farm three years ago it stood at 18 kilograms.
And we expect this year's harvest to yield no less than 30 kilograms. That's an
increase of around 30% year on year."
State-of-the-art watering systems, greenhouses and nurseries for plants are
these days all part of urban farms. But they weren't always so well equipped.
Food shortages
In 1993 and 1994 the country experienced a severe food shortage with the
population on the brink of starvation.
With the collapse of Cuba's cold war trading partners - the Soviet Union and
its socialist satellite states - imports such as artificial fertilisers and
pesticides ground to a halt.
What was to be done? The Cuban government's answer was transform derelict
city plots into well-funded vegetable gardens under the supervision of organic
farming associations.
Doctor Fernando Funes, who heads the association of agricultural and
forestry technicians (ACTAF), says back in the 1990's when prices were high many
people were despairing.
"But me and others began to work applying all our resolve and
scientific background. And we were successful. Cuba is now ahead of the other
Latin American countries in organic production."
Cuban farmers have switched to organic crops
The Cuban government has made organic farming a priority, since handing over
80% of state-owned land to private shareholder enterprises.
Farmers such as Carla Hernandez are now in the top 10% of earners, ahead of
many medical doctors and academics.
The government passed a law this year making organic farming compulsory and
Nilda Perez, one of ACTAF's top food scientists, says all food production should
be based on organic elements both domestically and industrially.
Some of the bigger farms producing crops such as organic oranges and sugar
cane have even started to export small amounts of their produce.
But despite all the advances made in boosting vegetable production, the
price of most other food on the shelves of Cuba's supermarkets remains high.
Rationing of some basic products is still in place, so that fresh milk is
only available for children under the age of seven.
The country still has a long way to go before becoming a major food exporter
in the region. But Cuba has certainly overcome the worst of its food supply
problems- thanks to organic farming. |