Cooperative Agriculture Sustains Cuba After Devastating Hurricanes

In the aftermath of three devastating hurricanes that swept Cuba and left the country with just 70 percent of its regular food supplies, worries have increased among the population that the Communist government might now have no more resources to feed its people. However, a tactic that was set in place when the Soviet Union fell in 1991, namely cooperative urban gardens, can now offer sufficient food, so that the nation's citizens won't starve.

In Havana, for instance, some cooperatives have as much as 160 members, who take care of a field that yields crops in just 25 days, if the right plants are grown. Now, following the natural disasters, people attending to the field work around the clock care for a variety of beets that can grow really fast. “Our capacity for response is immediate, because this is a cooperative,” Miguel Salcines, one of the people working the land, says.

The fact is that the “eat local” movement, which has been set in place in Cuba many years ago, is starting to pay off, and to take over other major cities in the world as well. Because everything is produced at the outskirts of the city, fuel prices do not influence those of the vegetables, and transport is fairly cheap. Some producers even use bicycles and other such transportation to bring their crops to the markets.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that some 15 percent of all food produced globally is made in, near, or around urban centers, as demand continues to increase daily, due to the rapid rise of population. The agency estimates that this percentage will raise even more in the future, as the volatility of gas prices will make it uneconomic for farmers and animal growers to keep their business out of the cities.

“Urban agriculture is going to play a key role in guaranteeing the feeding of the people much more quickly than the traditional farms,” the Cuba coordinator for German aid group Welthungerhilfe, Richard Haep, an outspoken supporter of this type of endeavors since 14 years ago, argues.