Green Roofs for Urban Food Security and Environmental Sustainability
By Corinne Kisner, December 2008
URBAN AGRICULTURE CASE STUDY: HAVANA, CUBA
Havana, the capital of Cuba, is a port city with a year-round tropical climate. The population within the city is 2.1 million, and in the surrounding urban area, 3.5 million. Urban agriculture in Cuba developed under unique circumstances of economic hardship and isolation. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1990, Cuban imports and exports collapsed, leaving the country to fend for itself and make use of all available domestic resources for food production. Without access to oil, tractors, fertilizers, pesticides or other inputs, Cubans adopted organic agriculture to grow the food necessary to feed their families. Today, over 26,000 gardens cover 2,439 hectares in Havana and produce 25,000 tons of food annually. 40% of households are involved in urban agriculture in Havana. Organic urban agriculture evolved from a survival mechanism to a popular means of supplementing income, diversifying diets, and achieving independence and self-sufficiency in a city setting.
Historically, the sugar industry provided the cornerstone of the Cuban economy. High sugar prices meant prosperity, but when prices were low, the economy suffered. The sugar monoculture caused a severe dependence on imports for basic food commodities that Cuba was capable of producing for itself. In the mid-1980s, Cuba imported more than half of food it consumed. Furthermore, unsustainable methods of sugar cultivation led to widespread deforestation, water pollution, soil degradation, and loss of biodiversity. In some places, resource depletion was so severe that it caused a loss in productivity even before the 1990 crisis. Despite the environmental and economic dangers of sugar monoculture, Cuba had financial incentives: the Soviet Union, China, and some Eastern European countries entered into long-term contracts with Cuba to buy sugar at stable, above world market prices, leading Cuba to promote sugar as its primary source of income. In exchange, the Soviet Union exported oil at below world market prices, effectively subsidizing Cuba’s economy. During this time, Cuba was food insecure because it relied on a single crop for most of its export earnings, depended on a small group of countries for its foreign trade, and required imports to feed its population.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990, Cuba lost the market for its sugar and the favorable terms of trade for oil. The country was plunged into an economic crisis called the “periodo especial” (special period) characterized by an intense lack of food, fuel, fertilizer, chemicals, spare parts and other industrial and agricultural inputs. During the special period, average caloric, protein and vitamin intake dropped by 30%. Average caloric intake dropped from 2908 to 1863 in five years, and the average Cuban lost 20 pounds during that time. By necessity, Cubans made use of the available resources and created urban gardens to prevent starvation. The U.S. embargo plunged Cuba into intense economic hardship but gave the government the opportunity to enact agricultural policies counter to the existing neoliberal model, protecting Cuban farmers against competition from the extremely subsidized agricultural industry in the U.S. and E.U. Cuba shifted from export-oriented, chemical-intensive monoculture to organic agriculture and food production for the domestic market.
With over three quarters of the country’s population living in cities, urban agriculture played a central role in achieving food security and took many forms, depending on local circumstances. By 2003, farmers had converted over 300,000 backyard patios to gardens and hope to reach half a million in the future. Organopónicos are a unique feature of Havana’s urban agriculture. These raised bed containers are filled with nutrient-rich compost and installed on previously paved or infertile lots, in order to achieve intense vegetable production in urban settings of poor soil or asphalt. On a larger scale, state farms became cooperative agricultural production units (UBPCs) in 1993 to increase efficiency and provide incentives for productivity. By 1997, UBPCs comprised 42% of the agriculture sector. The break-up of state farms made individuals or small teams responsible for production, rewarding efficiency and tying their incomes to the output. Additionally, urban agriculture provides employment and income: in 2003, 22% of all new jobs in the Cuban economy were in this sector. By 2002 Cuba had met the goal of providing every settlement of over fifteen houses with its own food production capacity, either through organopónicos, community gardens or individual plots.
There are environmental and social benefits in addition to economic ones. Intercropping improved the soil fertility, resulted in diversified diets and strengthened food security. Between 1994 and 1999, production of vegetables quadrupled, production of root crops and plantains tripled, potato production increased by 75% and cereals by 86%. (Meanwhile sugar dropped from 70% of export revenue in 1992 to 39% in 1998.) A lack of fuel and tractors forced farmers to use oxen labor, resulting in stark reductions in greenhouse gas-producing petroleum products. In 2003 the Ministry of Agriculture used “less than 50% of the diesel fuel it used in 1989, less than 10% of chemical fertilizers and less than 7% of synthetic insecticides.” Furthermore, “the Havana City Government passed a law prohibiting the use of chemical pesticides in agriculture within the city limits. Thus, the crops are grown almost entirely using active organic methods.” Socially, urban gardens boost cooperative involvement and dedication to the community. Gardeners often make food donations to the neighborhood, and especially to schools and daycare centers. In terms of the country’s health, urban agriculture has been tremendously successful. By 2000, food availability in Cuba again reached 2,600 calories daily per capita, proving that a country can achieve food security for its population through organic means, and providing an example for other third world countries.
OTHER CASE STUDIES
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Works Cited
FAO, “Profitability and Sustainability of Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture,” 2007. 2 December 2008.
Gonzalez, Carmen G., “Seasons of Resistance: Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in Cuba,” Tulane Environmental Law Journal, 2003. 3 December 2008.
Koont, Sinan, “Food Security in Cuba,” Monthly Review, 2004. 2 December 2008.
Novo, Mario Gonzalez and Catherine Murphy, “Urban Agriculture in the City of Havana: A Popular Response to a Crisis,” Trabajo Popular. 2 December 2008.