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| Old Havana with Presidential Palace in the background. The streetscape exemplifies the problems of growing food in a populous city. kamira / shutterstock.com |
The city of Havana in Cuba is home to around 2.5 million people, yet most of their food is grown within the city. 2003 saw the Caribbean Capital producing 60% of food consumed, but this was not always the case. Fifty years ago Cubans imported much of their food.
From 1972 the island nation traded under the protection of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) along with the Soviet Union, several Eastern Bloc countries, East Germany, Mongolia and Vietnam. The council's trade agreements subsidized imported food from member nations and inflated values on Cuba's sugar exports. Consequently much agricultural land on the island was given over to broad acre sugar farming which operated with all the mechanical and chemical assistance common to industrialized agriculture. Furthermore farming equipment, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and cheap Russian oil poured into the previously undeveloped country.
By 1989, however, COMECON was on the brink of Collapse. The Council's single largest economy, producing 70% of the community national product, was Soviet Russia, which by then was suffering economic depression and massive political change. It is estimated food availability across COMECON member countries declined as much as 60% between 1991 and 1995. The rationing of food became commonplace.
The weakening and eventual disbanding of COMECON in June 1991 brought financial crisis to Cuba. Any thought of assistance from near neighbour United States of America was already ruled out by a trade embargo which had been in place since 1962.
A report by the Resource Centre on Urban Agriculture and Food Security (RUAF) found in 1993/94 imported supplies for agriculture dropped by 67%. Fuel to transport what little food the island produced ran short and farm equipment was rendered useless. Food shortages were felt most acutely in Havana, which is situated at the far western end of the island.
The people of Cuba took action by growing food and sought Government support to change the way land was used. Emphasis was placed on giving land to anyone who wanted to grow food in the city. The reorganisation was led by the newly created Urban Agriculture Department. The department worked with the Legislative Council to change laws so gardeners would have legal priority for unused space. Citizens who wanted to set up a garden could solicit the local government, usually requesting a specific plot. The residents of Havana responded en masse, heading to their backyards, rooftops and neighbourhood lots to sow seeds.
Early initiatives involved only a few plots and contained a handful of root vegetables. But it quickly grew as residents realised they could supplement their rations.
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| An urban plot in Santa Clara, Cuba, where narrow paths maximise growing space. The diamond shape midway allows space to turn a wheelbarrow. Sam Oschwald Tilton |
While Cuba's urban agriculture takes many forms - ranging from private gardens to state-run operations the 'popular gardens' are most common and range in size from a few square meters to three hectares. Their shared use ranges from one to seventy people per garden site. Some 40,000 people have been re-deployed as gardeners in Havana alone.
A characteristic feature in cities throughout Cuba consists of raised garden beds bordered by low concrete walls filled with organic matter and soil. Bi-products such as sugar cane waste were used to fill them, following the permaculture principal of localisation.
Permaculture has proven to be a key in unlocking the potential for cities to produce food. Providentially the Cuban Government had sought advice from Australian permaculturalists as early as the 1980's and the input from Australia continued. They succeeded in turning barren spaces such as parking lots into productive areas. Guests at the International Permaculture Conference and Convergence (IPC11) hosted by Cuba in late 2013 claim that Permaculture has taken hold in Cuba like no other place.
These days Councils and horticultural groups from across the globe are looking to Cuba and their Ministry for Urban Agriculture to learn more about producing low emissions, low chemical input, low-food-mile crops.
First Published 2014 in Change Magazine
