CUBA:
Urban Farming, More
Necessary Than Ever
By Patricia Grogg
CIÉNAGA DE ZAPATA, Cuba
(IPS) - In spite of its
soil being hard to
plough, saline, shallow
and stony, this Cuban
municipality, the
location of the largest
and best preserved
wetland in the
Caribbean, has more than
140 farmers working in
urban agriculture, a
phenomenon that is
important for the
country’s food security.
"Here you have to make
soil from scratch, and
to begin with I had to
bring it from Jagüey
Grande," Nibaldo Ortega,
who joined the urban
agriculture movement
five years ago, told IPS.
He plants his vegetables
in beds, and between
these he puts sawdust,
"to carry on making
soil," he said.
His crops are few in
number. "I grow
tomatoes, beans and
radishes, mainly. Now
I’m planting fruit
trees," he says. But his
real vocation is rearing
pigs, rabbits, chickens
and other farmyard
animals included in the
urban agriculture
livestock programmes.
The 43-year-old Ortega
began by "raising a few
little pigs" with a
friend, on a small plot
some distance away from
the neighbourhood of El
Caletón in Ciénaga de
Zapata, population
10,000, the largest and
most sparsely populated
municipality in the
country, located in
Matanzas province, east
of Havana.
The farm now has more
than 100 pigs, 292
laying hens, 30 rabbits
and several Muscovy
ducks, as well as other
animals. "I’m the son of
a small farmer, and I
like this work," he
says, while continuing
to massage a sow’s belly
to help her farrow.
As his initial land area
became too small, Ortega
was given the right to
use (but not own)
another plot of about
half a hectare, opposite
his own. He is getting
it ready, and has made a
map of where he will put
each sector. At the back
he has reserved space
for the "infirmary," for
the benefit of the
veterinarian who looks
after his animals.
"Some inspectors came
and said, ‘don’t worry
about how much you’ll
make. As long as you’re
producing food, there’s
no problem.’ Before, it
used to be viewed
differently, they were
afraid of people earning
too much personally. But
now there’s a different
attitude to what you
earn from your work. And
there are certainly no
days off here," he said.
Ortega signed a contract
with the state for
raising pigs, under
which he was given 10
breeding sows. He must
sell the pork he
produces to the state
buyer, who pays for part
of it at the official
price and the rest at
market price, which is
four times higher.
"I think it’s a fair
agreement and it’s good
business for me, because
as part of the contract
they sell me imported
fodder for the pigs
practically at cost.
Besides, it’s legally
earned money," he said.
In his view, producers
are more motivated now.
Luis Lazo, a People’s
Power delegate for the
barrio of El Caletón,
said that previously
people always had to go
to other places to find
pork and vegetables.
"But now they can buy
them nearby," he said.
"Part of what is
produced by urban
agriculture provides
food for social
programmes, such as for
low-income elderly
people," he said.
Alicia Abella, in charge
of urban agriculture in
Ciénaga de Zapata, told
the local media that
there are now 146
producers in this
municipality, some of
whom grow vegetables,
fruit and grains, while
others raise livestock
and poultry.
The urban agriculture
movement, which now
involves some 300,000
producers all over the
country, on state farms,
cooperatives or private
farms, is based on
environmentally
sustainable farming
methods.
According to official
figures, over 15 million
tonnes of chemical-free
foods -- basically
vegetables, fresh herbs,
fruit and rice -- have
been produced in urban
and peri-urban areas in
the last decade.
As for the livestock
programmes, available
reports indicate that
small-scale breeders in
peri-urban areas produce
12,000 tonnes of pork a
year, as well as 76,000
tonnes of mutton and
goat meat, and 3,400
tonnes of rabbit meat.
Experts point out that
another interesting
aspect, from the
agro-ecological point of
view, is that the
agricultural and
livestock programmes are
interdependent, so that
livestock programmes, as
well as producing food,
supply more than 70
percent of the organic
fertiliser used on the
crops that are grown.
An annual 8.5 million
tonnes of organic
fertiliser are produced,
of which 1.4 million
tonnes are earthworm
humus. These maintain
the fertility of soils
devoted to urban
agriculture, and also
supply the needs of
organoponic and
intensive vegetable
farmers. Official
reports say that 5,000
polluted sites,
generated by
unauthorised rubbish
dumps and abandoned
lots, have been
eliminated by
transforming them into
organoponic and
intensive vegetable
gardens over the past
decade, in more than 200
cities and towns.
Spurred by soaring
international food
prices, the Cuban
government decided last
year to restructure its
agricultural sector in
order to boost
productivity and reduce
food imports, which this
year will cost 1.9
billion dollars.
The restructuring will
include granting the use
of uncultivated land to
small farmers who wish
to farm it, and
decentralisation of
agricultural planning
which will focus on the
local characteristics of
each part of the
country. The authorities
have declared the food
crisis a matter of
national security.
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