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New Book on Cuba's Conversion
to Organic Agriculture

From Peter Rosset (rosset@foodfirst.org)

New book on Cuba's Successful Organic Farming
Date Jan 29, 2002

Policy Think Tank Releases New Book on Cuba's Successful Organic Farms

First time any country has made the transition from
chemical-intensive farming to sustainable agriculture on an national
scale

"To understand Cuban agricultural development we must first look at
the richness of detail in this volume. Then we have to step back and
squint to capture the truly novel pathway of development that Cuba is
pioneering. And then once again we have to focus in on the details,
and glimpse the processes through which Cuba is creating something
truly new and hopeful for all of humanity."
-Professor Richard Levins, Harvard University School of Public Health

OAKLAND, CA-Cuba's successful switch from chemical-intensive to
sustainable agriculture carried the island nation back from the brink
of a national food crisis brought on by the 1990 collapse of trade
relations with the former socialist bloc. This fascinating case
demonstrates that organic agriculture could actually work as the
basis of an entire nation's farming sector, putting the lie to the
oft-repeated myth that "organic farming could never feed the world,"
according to a new book-length report issued by Food First/The
Institute for Food and Development Policy, a food policy think tank.

The multi-author report, Sustainable Agriculture and Resistance:
Transforming Food Production in Cuba, is largely written by Cuban
experts on agricultural production, and represents the first time
Cubans have made public the details of this enormous agricultural
transformation.

To discuss Cuba's unique national experience with organic farming,
and this report, Food First and the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS) are bringing lead author Dr. Fernando
Funes, a key player in the Cuban transformation, on a nationwide
speaking tour. Dr. Funes will be appearing at universities and book
stores throughout the United States from February 15 to March 12 of
this year.

For 30 years Cuba had fully embraced chemical pesticide- and
fertilizer-intensive farming methods to meet its domestic food and
export needs. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, Cuba, a
target of a thirty-year economic embargo by the United States, lost
its biggest trading partner and its ability to import food and the
chemicals and machines to grow it using conventional technology.

"Suddenly $8 billion a year disappeared from Cuban trade· Imports
were reduced by 75 percent, including most foodstuffs, spare parts,
agrochemicals, and industrial equipment," according to Dr. Funes.
"Unexpectedly a 'modern' and industrialized agricultural system had
to face the challenge to increase food production while maintaining
production for export, all with more than 50 percent drop in the
availability of [agricultural] inputs."

Sustainable Agriculture explores the ambitious program Cuba embarked
on during the ten years subsequent to the collapse of the Soviet
Union, a program which fed the country's population. By 1999 Cuba's
agricultural production had recovered and in some cases reached
historic levels. While rural farms and farmers contributed greatly to
this success, a key component was the emergence of urban farms and
gardens as the principle source of fresh produce in cities.

"In the early 1990's a strong urban agriculture was born in which
thousands of people produce food using organic methods that help
supply basic foodstuffs to urban families," said Dr. Funes. "The
effectiveness of organic techniques in urban gardening has been
clearly demonstrated, and it is here that we are possibly closest to
the ideal of sustainable agriculture, due in part to the prohibition
of the use of chemicals because of the proximity to dense human
populations."

Sustainable Agriculture and Resistance: Transforming Food Production
in Cuba includes the contribution of thirty-two of Cuba's leading
agriculture researchers, plus three American experts on Cuba
agriculture, including Dr. Peter Rosset, the co-director of Food
First. It also includes a prologue by Professor Miguel Altieri of the
University of California at Berkeley, and an epilog by Professor
Richard Levins of Harvard University.

For more information about the book or to interview Dr. Fernando
Funes-who speaks English-and/or Dr. Rosset, please contact Nick
Parker at (510) 654-4400 ext. 229, or at nparker@foodfirst.org.

Also see http://www.foodfirst.org/cuba

Food First, also known as the Institute for Food and Development
Policy, founded in 1975 by Frances Moore Lappé and Joseph Collins
after the success of Ms. Lappé's book Diet for a Small Planet, is a
policy think tank that carries out research and education-for-action.
Food First works to identify the root causes of hunger and poverty in
the United States and around the world, and to educate the public as
well as policy makers about these problems and alternative solutions
to them. Visit Food First's web site at www.foodfirst.org.

###
--
Nick Parker
Media Coordinator
Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First
398 60th Street, Oakland, CA 94618 USA
Phone: (510) 654-4400 (ext. 229) Fax: (510) 654-4551

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Years of Fighting for the Right to Feed Oneself 1975 - 2000
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