Cuba's Organic Revolution
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO 
on 08.14.06
After forty-seven years of rule, Cuban president Fidel Castro's failing health may well spell the end of his political revolution. Another, quieter revolution has taken place in the island country since the Soviet Union fell, leaving Cuba without guaranteed food subsidies and markets for its sugar cane: the rise of organic agriculture. In response to the loss of its economic lifeline, and the subsequent hunger that many Cuban experienced (average daily caloric intake fell from 2600 to 1000 to 1500), the Castro government set out on a bold experiment to create a self-sustaining food system in the country based on thousands of "organoponicos," or very small urban land allotments for growing food. According to experts who have watched this development, the Cuban organic transition has been remarkably successful:
Remarkably, this organic revolution has worked. Annual calorie intake now stands at about 2,600 a day, while UNFAO estimates that the percentage of the population considered undernourished fell from 8 percent in 1990-92 to about 3 percent in 2000-02. Cuba's infant mortality rate is lower than that of the U.S., while at 77 years, life expectancy is the same.Writer Andrew Buncombe of the UK's Independent argues, in fact, that the organoponico experiment has been much more successful that Cuba's other attempt at economic independence, its promotion of tourism, for the whole of the country. While experts argue that attempting to mimic Cuba's agricultural system would likely fail in other Western Hemisphere countries not accustomed to working so hard for their daily meals, and others are concerned about the effect a more open economic system might have on the country's unique food production model, the small country and its troubled government have shown the world that more sustainable farming can feed a lot of people. We may just all have to get a little hungrier before really trying such a radical step. ::The Independent via the Seattle Post-IntelligencerEveryone appears to agree that this new, organic approach is far more efficient than the previous Soviet model that emphasized production at all costs. Fernando Funes, head of the national Pasture and Forage Research Unit, told Harper's magazine: "In that old system it took 10 or 15 units of energy to produce one unit of food energy. At first we did not care about economics, (but) we were realizing just how inefficient it was."
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I went to Cuba in October 2005 and all I saw was people in dire need.
Maybe this Seatle guy needs to move there and live like a Cuban for a couple of months to have at least a remote idea of what he is talking about
The US is currently set up for an individual organic farming system. The majority live in suburbia and have large yards. Just plant vegtables instead of grass....however, with food so cheap at the supermarket there are few who will do so. I think the only thing the Cuban example shows is how people lived in the 1850's.
There's a really great documentary about this, called The Power of Community – How Cuba Survived Peak Oil. It talks about it more from a Peak Oil perspective (obviously) - how Cuba lost a large chunk of its oil imports (I can't remember, maybe as much as 50%) when the Soviet Union collapsed. They had to move very quickly away from mechanized farming and petroleum based fertilizers, back to oxen and organic farming.
more about it here.
Just so that you know, you mispelled "organoponicos" ... you left out the 'R'
The Nature of Things (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) did a two-part program on Cuba called “The Accidental Revolution” (http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/show_cuba.html). The first episode aired on July 30/2006 described the industrial agriculture practised by Cuba after the revolution. The fall of the Soviet Union and the loss of petroleum imports forced a transition to a more sustainable agriculture based on species diversity, recycling of all plant wastes and biological pest controls. This has dramatically reduced the requirement for external energy inputs.
The program describes the organoponicos (city farms) as well as changes in rural agriculture, including innovative cattle-rearing methods such as silvopasture and planting legumes along with grass. Combined with fewer state controls, the approach has allowed farmers to earn a decent living, such that farming is seen as a desirable occupation.
The program did describe some of the challenges that Cubans still face, but pointed out that things had improved dramatically since the early 1990s.
Hey, and maybe Kim Jong Il isn't really a brutal psychotic despot either. Maybe starving his people was really just an experiment in sustainable agriculture!
Honestly, is there nothing that the Castro apologists won't use to justify this monster's behavior?
This is what they call "watermelon environmentalism" -- green on the outside, red on the inside.
I find it rather nauseating to read this kind of hogwash, too. Those who champion the "environmentalism" of El Jefe, as though it were some sort of virtue, trumpeting the enforced squalid middle-ages living conditions, as though they are a worthy example to be emulated, need to give their heads a shake.
Needless to say, these conditions only apply to the average Cuban who isn't a political dissident in one of Fidel's numerous gulags. They, of course, have it much worse.
As a Canadian, I'm not surprised to hear David Suzuki's personal taxpayer-funded soapbox, "The Nature of Things" program, giving Castro a lavish tongue-bath. That's about par for the course for Suzuki.
If someone cut off one of these cheerleader's legs, they'd no doubt proudly brag about how we should admire them, because they spend 50% less than the rest of us on footwear.
pfui.
As someone who has traveled widely in Cuba doing environmental work four out of the last five years, I can say that there have been positive things that have happened under Castro's rule. The whole place is not a pathetic cesspool, and pointing out what has worked is not being an apologist for Castro.
Cuba's remarkable organic agricultural system grew more out of necessity than desire, but the point the author made -- "sustainable farming can feed a lot of people" -- is a valuable lesson, even though it's unlikely any developed nations will ever undertake it.
Canadians sure get ornery when Hockey Night's not on.
Nuthatch,
"Cuba's remarkable organic agricultural system grew more out of necessity than desire, but the point the author made -- "sustainable farming can feed a lot of people" -- is a valuable lesson, even though it's unlikely any developed nations will ever undertake it.
Well, yes, that stands to reason, and may have something to do with the fact that we "Nordeamericanos", with our developed nations, don't live in a Stalinist era police state with a centrally-planned economy, under permanent martial law with famines of clockwork predictability. Perhaps that is a necessary prerequisite for "sustainable agriculture"?
While this notion of "sustainable agriculture" all sounds very romantic -- calling to mind images of rustic peasants pulling a wooden plow with oxen -- compared to modern North American agricultural methods, it should be pretty clear to all but the most delusional which system actually *sustains* more people. Or have we forgotten the entire goal of agriculture in the first place? Personally, I can't recall ever having been required to take a ration book to the supermarket around here, and historically, North America has always been where people from other parts of the world come to escape famines.
However, I am optomistic for the future of Cuba's agriculture. Hopefully it won't be long now, and Fidel will help by pushing up wheat for the many hungry.
Come to think of it, he's always looked pretty well-fed, hasn't he?
Frankly, whatever your view of Cuba, I think it is worthwhile that articles like this are published. Americans (that would be "Norteamericanos") in particular are largely ignorant of most aspects of Cuban life. Perhaps that's why people think there have been "famines of clockwork predictability," which is untrue. Oh, and by the way, they don't grow wheat in Cuba.
China is also having an Organic Revolution, check out