Cuba S Experiment with Urban Agriculture During the Special Period

Growing Cites:

Cuba’s Experiment With Urban Agriculture During the “Special Period”

By

Janine M. de la Salle

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts

At

DalhousieUniversity

HalifaxNS

December 2004

© Copyright by Janine M. de la Salle, 2004

TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE HISTORY OF FOOD IN CUBA: THE IMPACT OF PUBLIC POLICY ON FOOD SECURITY

Cuba Before the Revolution

Cuba: After Revolution, Before the Crisis

Cuba During the “Special Period”

Discussion of Cuban Public Policy and Food Security

Conclusion

APPENDIX A: Discrepancies in the data

REFRENCES

END NOTES

TABLE OF TABLES

Table 1: Food Consumption Of Agricultural Population In Cuba Pre-1959

Table 2: Dependence On Imported Foodstuffs (%)Prior To 1990

Table 3: Green Revolution Model Of Agriculture, Character Of Cuban Agriculture Prior To 1990

Table 4: Monthly Ration For One Adult (1983)

Table 05: Per Capita Food Availability through the Ration System 1958-1969

Table 6: Comparison Of Selected Cuban Imports 1989-1992

Table7: Selected Biocontrols, Target Pests, And Crops Affected, In Cuba

Table 8: Agricultural Land Affected By Degradation Problems

Table 9: Prevalence Of Undernourishment In Cuba 1997-1998

Table 10: Food Availability And Depth Of Undernourishment In Cuba 1996-98

Table 11: Daily Recommended Intake And Apparent Intake Of Energy And Nutrients 1992-1993 In Cuba

Table 12: Body Mass Index (BMI) Of The Population Of Havana By Gender 1982-1994

Table 13: Caloric Intake In Cuba From 1950-1996

THE HISTORY OF FOOD IN CUBA: THE IMPACT OF PUBLIC POLICY ON FOOD SECURITY

F

ood in Cuba is known by some as the “Achilles heel of the revolution” (Benjamin & Rosset 1994: 26). The securing of an accessible, equitable, and nutritious food source for Cuba has been, is, and will be the determining factor in the survival of the island. The nature of agriculture and food security in Cuba has been principally determined by the central organization and public policy reforms of the Communist government since 1959. To a large degree, Cuba has had to resort to radical changes in agricultural public policy pertaining to food security. These measures have both helped and hindered the public’s access to food. Further, these measures have both been a challenge and a benefit to the sustainability of the Cuban agricultural sector. The historical context of food security and public policy in Cuba discusses the factors that lead to the emergence of urban agriculture (UA).

This excerpt will attempt to address two main questions: 1) how Cuban domestic policy has influenced food security, nutrition and health in Cuba; and 2) how the role of the Cuban state in securing food supplies has changed over time. These questions address the objectives of this section which are to establish a pattern between Cuba’s domestic policy and the realities of every-day life for Cuban people over time, to assess the role of the state in Cuban domestic life in terms of food, and to explore the changes in Cuban agriculture and how they have influenced state policy, contributed to food shortages, or, conversely, played a leading role in sustainable agriculture and food security methods. The nature of the connection between public policy and food security is later discussed as an indicator of sustainability in the UA program.

The general research area that this excerpt encompasses is the history of food in Cuba. That is, it traces how state policy in agriculture, food production, and distribution have had an impact upon food security in Cuba and the people who live there. It is argued that although there has been government policy since 1959 that has worked to the detriment of food security for the Cuban people, many innovative transformations in Cuba’s state policy in domestic food supply have fostered effective new ways of providing a safe, nutritious and accessible food source to the Cuban population. The political history of food security in Cuba is also considered as a macro indicator, establishing patterns of sustainable and non-sustainable practices over time that are later discussed in terms of how they help and hinder the sustainability of UA in Havana.

Cuba’s domestic policy on agriculture, food security and public well-being is discussed in three main time periods. The first section gives a brief discussion on the conditions of state policy and agriculture at the turn of the 20th century that sets the stage for later developments in food security. The second section, presents the dramatic public policy reforms in agriculture and the Cuban food system after the 1959 revolution and during the years of growth and alliance with the Soviet Union. The third section provides an analysis of the most recent and ongoing stage of Cuban food security during the “Special Period”, which is considered as a high point in the Cuban government’s policies on securing a viable food supply for the population. The detailed discussion on the development of UA is reserved for the following excerpt. In addition, this section looks at the main domestic policy reforms in agriculture during these time periods and discusses the impact they have had on the Cuban people. This impact will be measured by indicators of public policy such as caloric intake, organization of labour, ownership of land, environment and human health. Lastly, the analysis portion of this excerpt will assess the degree to which domestic policy in Cuba has historically been able to satisfy the basic food and nutrition requirements of the Cuban people, as well as how well the Cuban state has established a viable food supply.Each of the three time periods will consider, where possible, how changes in public policy have transformed elements of the Cuban food system, and will also assess the overall impact on food security as measured by access to food as well as caloric, protein, and micronutrient intake.

Cuba Before the Revolution

Food production and agriculture in Cuba before 1959 was characterized by the primacy of the sugar industry, and food security was characterized by the ability of the people to buy food. The dangers posed by the monoculture economy, concentrated land ownership, and differential caloric intakes resulting from a high degree of social stratification, created a high level of social inequity in food security, and resulted in high levels of malnutrition in lower classes, which were concentrated in rural areas. Poverty in Cuba prior to the revolution was centralized in rural areas whereas affluence was centralized in urban areas. Despite small enclaves of poverty within towns and cities, urban areas monopolized national income, consumption, nutrition, education, comfort and health leaving the rural areas without access to basic necessities like an adequate food supply (Leyva 1972: 456). This level of class inequity in Cuba was seen as an area of great injustice: “The rural people produced the wealth of the country, but only the city folk profited from the effort” (Leyva 1972: 456).

Government policy affecting food security is inextricably linked to the high level of food insecurity in Cuba before the revolution in 1959. For instance at the end of the 19th century, much of the arable land in Cuba was bought by U.S. foreign investors whose main concern was growing sugar for export. In this way sugar cane took over food-producing plots, forcing people to look elsewhere for subsistence needs. Prior to this time, sugar plantations grew more than sugar. Most farms had to feed the labourers or slaves and, therefore planted food crops with the sugar cane. Despite the fact that about 80% of Cuba’s total land mass was arable, agricultural productivity before the revolution was low and had inadequate irrigation, lack of technology and absence of research (Forster & Handelman 1985: 175; Benjamin et al. 1984: 9).

The real or potential dangers of a sugar-based monoculture economy to long-term sustainability need to be emphasized in the Cuban context. Monoculture export crops like sugar are part of a modern agriculture paradigm that emphasizes yields and productivity. Modernized agriculture in developing countries fundamentally creates conditions of dependency as it relies on a high level of inputs like machinery, fuel, and agro-chemicals, which countries are forced to import. They must also develop export markets to generate enough revenue to import these supplies. In Cuba, the primacy of the sugar industry and monoculture economy created a state of dependency on external inputs as well on food imports (see Table 2). Also, a monocrop economy is very sensitive to the world market, and shifts in the prices for exported goods echo loudly with the exporting country. For example, as the United States had been a heavy investor in the Cuban sugar industry since the late 19th century (Pérez 1995: 195-199) withdrew from the Cuban economy and instituted an embargo in 1960, Cuba’s sugar market virtually disappeared, and the domestic economy suffered. For example, during the withdrawal of the U.S. from Cuba there were problems such as massive emigration of industry, the lack availability of parts for industry like sugar mills (nine mills were closed by 1965) (Pérez 1995: 334-346).

Another danger of the sugar monocrop economy is the limited growing season that sugarcane has (Forster & Handelman 1985: 176; Benjamin et al 1984: 8). Unlike other tropical climate crops, sugar only requires attention for part of the year, traditionally leaving farm workers without a viable source of employment for months at a time. Sugar cane is harvested approximately once per year and after the initial stage of planting (every 4-6 years), weeding, and fertilizing, the sugar cane does not require further human inputs. This is long pause between harvests is known as the “dead season” or tiempo muerto, for employment and during the pre-revolution times national unemployment levels reached 50% (Forster & Handelman 1985: 176). These families who did not have access to subsistence plots during the dead season were most affected by nutritional deficiencies. For example 91% of rural families ate inadequate amounts of calories and proteins (Forster & Handelman 1985: 176).

Ecologically, monocrop farming compromises the integrity of farming ecosystems and soil quality, and undermines the ability for the land to be productive in the medium to long term. Soil degradation that occurs as a result of modern agriculture endangers the economic, social, and environmental viability of monocrops like sugar. Cuba has been criticized for entrenching a legacy of environmental degradation in agriculture through adopting a modern model (Díaz-Briquets & Pérez-López 2000: 176). Specific impacts, such as soil degradation, are discussed in later sections as they occurred after the revolution in 1959.

Thus, the importance of the history of the Cuban sugar industry cannot be overstated. Many components of the Cuban economy were intimately tied to the sugar industry and changes in the sugar markets signified changes in transportation, banking, and other trades. In other words, when the international prices of sugar fell, the whole Cuban economy was affected. The prevalence of Cuba’s sugar manufacturing since colonization has shaped the development of Cuban economics, politics, social organization, natural environment and food security. For example, slavery in Cuba was largely instituted to meet the labour demands and production goals of the sugar fields (Pérez 1995: 60-61). Also, this type of land use would later cause massive amounts of soil degradation (Díaz-Briquets and Pérez-López 2000: 87). As noted by a prominent U.S. historian:

The influence of sugar…was pervasive and total. It summoned into existence a plantation economy and the attending banes of monoculture, chattel slavery, and large-scale production for export…Sugar shaped property relations, class structures, land tenure forms, labour systems, the process of capital accumulation, the pattern on investment, the priorities of domestic policies, the course and content of Cuban trade and commerce, and the conduct of Cuban foreign relations. In the end sugar shaped the national character. (Pérez 1995: ix)

Although sugar has played a key role in Cuba since the time of Spanish colonization, it wasn’t until during the years of World War Two that Cuba emerged as a world leader in sugar production and export. By 1948, the sugar industry had grown to constitute 90% of Cuba’s total exports by value and accounted for a 40% increase in national production, from 4.2- 5.8 million tons between 1944 and 1948 (Pérez 1995: 285). However, the prosperity derived from the boom in the sugar industry did not reach all Cubans equally. In fact, record levels of sugar production and exports raised food prices almost three times between 1939 and 1948 and as well, the cost of living increased more than two times (Pérez 1995: 285-286).

During the last years of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th, Cuba’s land tenure system changed dramatically. Inevitably these changes had an enormous effect on the people of Cuba, especially the poor landless class. For instance, the prevalence of small farms evident in the late 19th century, or during the last stages of the War of Independence against Spain, is illustrated by the large number of some 60,711 working farms approximately 58 hectares in size which occupied 50% of agricultural land(Funes 2002: 3- 4). With the expansion of the sugar industry, agricultural landholding became more concentrated and in 1934 there were 38, 130 small to medium farms left. Put another way, 9.4 % of the rural sector landholders, many of whom were large US companies, controlled 73.3 % of agricultural land (Funes 2001: 4), while 0.5% of the nations farms owned over 1/3 of the total area of arable land (Forster & Handelman 1985: 175). Much of this land was no longer used to grow food for domestic consumption, but rather focused on products for export, namely sugar. During the 1950’s Cuba contributed more than 15% of international sugar output in some years (Forster & Handelman 1985: 175).

The land tenure system in Cuba before the revolution of 1959 experienced a massive shift from small farms to large sugar production estates. For example, by 1946 0.5% of nation’s farms accounted for more than a third of total agricultural area and small farmers who constituted 80% of land owners controlled only 20% of total farm land (Forster & Handelman 1985: 175). This shift caused many social problems such as the generation of a new poor landless rural class, illiteracy, infant mortality and unsanitary conditions. While there was a clear need for domestic food production, there were over 4 million hectares of arable land on large estates that were left uncultivated. Inefficiency in the large farm system would later come to plague the Cuban food supply and food security.

Although agricultural production was skewed towards sugar production, undernourishment and malnutrition among the rural poor cannot be solely attributed to the sugar industry (Forster & Handelman 1985: 177). The general character of food security in Cuba before the revolution was a class-based system of distribution, with the upper classes having more access to food and the lower classes experiencing hunger and malnutrition (Forster & Handelman 1985: 176; Leyva 1972: 457). Although Cuba had one of the highest average calorie consumption levels in Latin America at this time, only part of the population had access to a reliable food source. For example, under the Batista government, rural workers were found to consume 33% less energy than they expended (Forster & Handelman 1985: 177). It is estimated that in 1956, 91% of rural people were malnourished as a direct result of low wages and high food costs or, low purchasing power (Leyva 1972: 458; Forster & Handelman 1985: 177).

Table 1: Food Consumption Of Agricultural Population In Cuba Pre-1959
Diet Item / Percentage of Families Consuming Item
Meat / 4.0
Fish / 1.0
Eggs / 2.2
Milk / 11.2
Green Vegetables / 0.0
Bread / 3.3
Corn / 7.0
Leyva 1972: 459

The quality of diet for lower classes was also poor. For example, the principal sources of energy (in percentage of daily caloric consumption) such as rice (24%), beans (23%) and root crops (22%), lack in proteins, vitamins and minerals (Leyva 1972: 459). Further, only 4% of rural families consumed meat, an essential source of protein and green vegetables were generally not a part of the average diet (See table 1). A diet based largely on starches caused nutritional deficiencies, which manifested themselves in the health of the Cuban poor in terms of deformed bone structure, obesity, physical weakness, anemia and low resistance to disease (Leyva 1972: 459).

According to some records, the average caloric intake for Cubans in the 1950’s was between 2700-2900 calories per day, which is very high even by today’s standards in developing countries (Forster & Handelman 1985: 176).[1] However, as noted by Forster and Handelman (1985), these numbers are misleading and represent the high end of the social stratification of food energy consumption. As a result, the high malnutrition levels of the rural poor were not noticed or acknowledged and the high caloric intakes were falsely assumed to be representative of the entire population. Another indication of a major class divide in food security is that 44 percent of public school children were underweight compared to only 10 percent of private school children (Forster & Handelman 1985: 176). Furthermore, rural youth were more likely to have calcium, vitamin A, thiamine and riboflavin deficiencies. On average the rural sector was more undernourished than the urban centres at 60 percent and 30-40 percent, respectively (Forster & Handelman 1985: 177).