By Anita Snow. Associated Press.
Houston Chronicle. May 19,
2001, 9:15PM.
HAVANA -- Lurking among the rice, beans and cooking oil in every Cuban's
ration book is something called jamonada. It's supposed to contain jamon, or
ham, but Cubans jokingly call it "nada de jamon" -- no ham at all.
Nowadays, however, most Cubans no longer have to rely on humor to replace a
square meal. After the wrenching 1990s, when beef became a fond memory and few
over the age of 7 got milk, the government has restructured the food industry
and is reluctantly bending the rules of communism by allowing a limited free
market in food.
The result: Long rows of tomatoes, lettuce and other salad fixings now grow
in fields outside the capital, where fresh vegetables used to be scarce.
Watercress, spinach and parsley are piled high at the stands at Havana's
farmers markets, along with okra, green beans and bell peppers.
And a supermarket built for diplomats now attracts more Cubans than
foreigners.
Shortages remain acute outside Havana, especially in Guantanamo province and
other parts of eastern Cuba suffering from drought. The United Nations World
Food Program has provided $22 million to help feed children and pregnant and
nursing women in eastern Cuba this year.
But overall, the food crisis that peaked in 1993-94 after Cuba lost its
Soviet meal ticket and U.S. trade sanctions were tightened is now easing as
President Fidel Castro's government slowly works toward self-sufficiency.
"There is no question that Cuba is learning to feed itself,"
former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy said early this month.
"There doesn't seem to be a food crisis here at all," he said
after visiting cooperative farms and farmers markets in Cuba.
Still, Cuban officials say much more must be done so that enough meat, fresh
vegetables and starches reach every table.
The 1990s crisis forced Cuba to learn how to feed itself, and the island now
produces more of its own fruit, vegetables, grains and meats. It has also
cultivated new trade partners to replace the socialist nations and their
subsidies.
Today, the average Cuban adult consumes 2,585 calories and 68 grams of
protein daily, compared with 1,940 calories and 48 grams of protein in 1993.
The World Health Organization recommends a minimum daily intake of 2,700
calories, and 20-30 grams of protein daily depending upon body weight.
Basic items allocated to every Cuban by the government's monthly food ration
are usually available. These include six pounds of rice, a pound of dried beans,
six pounds of sugar, a pound of macaroni, a pound of soda crackers, a dozen
eggs.
The ration program, or Control of Sales for Food Products, was introduced in
1962, three years after Castro seized power, and although it was called
provisional, it remains in force. It is laid out in the wallet-sized cardboard "libreta,"
or notebook, assigned to everyone shortly after birth.
At heavily subsidized prices, the ration provides each Cuban with about
one-third of their monthly nutrition for about $1.25.
Meat products are on the ration list but often don't appear in stores for
months, and when they do, their content can be mysterious. Apart from "jamonada,"
there's a watery gray "textured picadillo," containing much soy
protein but minuscule amounts of the ground beef contained in true picadillo --
a traditional dish.
The government says last year it spent about 30 percent more than in 1999 on
ration subsidies.
While availability still varies in provincial areas, Havana's 2 million
residents at least can count on a monthly average of 33 pounds of starchy
staples known collectively as "viandas": potatoes, sweet potatoes and
plantains.
To increase fish production, Cuba recently started three breeding farms
projected to yield 15,000 metric tons annually by 2005.
The hard times that followed the demise of the Soviet bloc 12 years ago were
officially called the "special period." Particularly hard hit was
Cuba's cattle industry, which depended on eastern European feed, fertilizer for
grazing fields, milking machines and technical support.
Cuba started importing more food through foreign subsidiaries of U.S.
companies like Central Soya, Del Monte and International Multifoods, especially
wheat, corn, rice and oils.
But then, in 1992, the United States tightened its embargo with the Cuban
Democracy Act, barring the American subsidiaries from selling to the island.
Cubans began skipping meals, or eating smaller, unappetizing ones, or the
same dish day after day.
Some Cuban city folk illegally kept pigs in their bathtubs, or egg-laying
hens on their balconies and patios.
Its social safety net in danger, the government in September 1993
restructured its centralized food system.
Big state farm enterprises were broken up into smaller worker-owned and
managed units. These now work nearly half of Cuba's cultivated land. Smaller
parcels went to individual farmers.
The government also focused on urban agriculture that put production closer
to consumers.
Farmers still have to sell the state a share of their produce, but can now
sell the rest at authorized farmers markets.
But reconciling communist ideology with the free market is still a problem
for the government.
It periodically complains in the state media that prices and profits are too
high at the "agros," as the farmers markets are known. A government
sworn to abolish class distinctions fears creating a new privileged class of
middle men who get farm produce to market.
Most Cubans earn an average of 249 pesos monthly, or just under $12 at
government exchange rates. (The U.S. minimum wage is $5.15 an hour.)
The Cuban figure can mislead because Cubans generally pay little or nothing
for housing and utilities, have free education and health care, ride heavily
subsidized public transportation, and get food rations.
But buying power is strictly limited. Two pounds of tomatoes costs about $1,
a pineapple about 75 cents.
Still, most Cubans buy a thing or two at the "agros" each month,
even if just a pound of onions for 25 cents.
"The prices are too much for the buying power of most people,"
Margarita Gonzalez said as she pushed her 1-year-old grandson through a market
in his stroller.
All she bought was about 25 cents worth of green beans and spinach for the
boy.
To compete with the "agros," the government has set up farmers
markets of its own. These have less variety but much lower prices. And the army
is now an important food source; its Youth Work Army sells fresh vegetables at
monthly food fairs around the island.
For the more than one-third of Cubans who can get U.S. dollars, there's "el
shopping" at the "diplotienda," Havana's original dollar
supermarket for diplomats.
It was off-limits to Cubans until U.S. dollars were legalized in 1993. Now
its Cuban shoppers outnumber foreigners.
There a quart of Cuban milk costs $1.60, a Canadian skirt steak is $2.90 a
pound, sliced ham is $6.20 a pound.
At those prices, some Cubans are learning self-sufficiency.
About 16,000 urban gardeners grow vegetables in and around Havana, said
Eneida Ponce, a government specialist for such projects.
At one project in Havana's Marianao neighborhood, 32 people work small plots
that yield lettuce, tomatoes and onions in the winter. Come summer, there is
corn, yucca root and sweet potato.
Rolando Aguiar and two friends cleared an empty lot in 1996 and planted it.
"A lot of people are interested in growing their own food now,"
said Aguiar, 62, looking out at his field of squash and tall banana trees.
"The 'special period' has been hard," Aguiar added. "But we
have always had something to eat." | 