What Farming Is Like in Cuba Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit What Farming Is Like in Cuba Common Ground magazine (British Columbia) - May 2002 Cuba's Organic Revolution by Ken Stemo How would you like to farm where: Your net income is higher than the national average. You have a guaranteed price for the commodity you produce and a bonus if you overproduce. You will get a pension at age 60 if you are male and age 55 if you are female. Taxes are 5% of net income. All education for your children including university and college are free. Your hospital and medical costs are free. Agriculture extension works directly with the farmer using farmer-directed technology for plant and animal protection and improvement. Your kids can get into farming without incurring any debt. Sounds idyllic? This is what farming in Cuba is like. Yes, high school students are expected to help on the farms. Those who receive a degree are expected to work for two years at low pay in an area where their education and talents are required. Farmers must give some of their produce to hospitals, seniors=92 homes and schools. However, these are all positive features in my opinion, for they strengthen the connection between the farmer and the consumer, and directly link agriculture to the community. "Castro" and "Communism" are the words that come to mind when we think of Cuba. When applied to agriculture, these terms might make one think of large, inefficient, state-owned farms. This is not the case. State-owned farms have been turned over to families who operate them, receiving the benefits from the farming in return for a low-interest payment to the state. There are also independent farmers who retain control of their land but form associations to avail themselves of technology and intrastructure. Most of the land in Cuba is farmed by CPAs. A CPA is formed when a group of farmers with small holdings chooses to pool their land and farm cooperatively. I visited one CPA begun by 28 farmers in 1977. Initially it was formed to access electricity, improve housing and improve farming technology. Now it has 245 members, creating a village of about 1,000 people with its own school and doctor. The main crop produced on this farm is bananas. As well, the farm has citrus fruits, cattle and 23 tractors to harvest sugar cane. What is amazing is that it also has a $1.2 million laboratory that produces biological sprays. These effective, non-polluting sprays, made from native microorganisms, are produced by the farmers themselves and cost a fraction of their chemical counterparts. These organic sprays, along with bio-fertilizers made from waste products in the manufacture of sugar, plus worm-composting organic waste material, are also used extensively in and around cities in raised-bed gardens called organoponicas. One two-hectare organoponica I visited is supplying seven markets with vegetables and fruits. It is irrigated using efficient, water-saving microjet technology. Since it is located in a densely populated area, transportation costs for incoming organic material used in composting and outgoing produce are kept to a minimum. Cuba has not become a world leader in large-scale organic food production by choice. Before the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba was the most industrialized nation in Latin America, producing mainly sugar, importing 60% of its food and relying heavily on subsidies of food, oil and technology from the Soviet Union. With its purchasing power falling from $8.1 billion in 1989 to $2.2 billion in 1992, and the USA increasing trade sanctions under the Torricelli Act, Cuba had to develop food self-sufficiency to feed its 11,000,000 people. =46ortunately, Cuba had well-educated farmers who were organized and supported in many ways by their government. Through their agricultural extension programs, the government has helped farmers by fostering urban agriculture, and by supporting farmer-directed technology in the areas of plant and animal improvement, inter-cropping, bio-fertilizers and biological sprays. As a result, Cuban farmers, using oxen, hoes and old Russian tractors, are making great strides towards food self-sufficiency that is economically and environmentally sustainable. Wendy Holm is an agronomist who has taken eleven groups of Canadian farmers to Cuba as part of the Canada-Cuba Farmer to Farmer Project. She says, "New ideas with old equipment are better than new equipment with old ideas." [as published in COMMONGROUND magazine and Union Farmer] [Ken Stemo is a farmer in Rimbey, Alberta who recently returned from a Canada-Cuba Farmer to Farmer Project delegation. For more info, see: http://www.farmertofarmer.ca ] source - "Wendy Holm, P.Ag." ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytlab-05.22.02-12:00:22-1373