Urban farming thrives in Cuba

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cubans in towns and cities began spontaneously to grow their own food


The Cubans did not come to their exalted status as organic pioneers through some benevolent ecological epiphany. Their conversion to organic agriculture was, quite simply, the result of scarcity. The Cubans ran out of money and oil, and then they started to run out of food.

During the Cold War, the Cuban economy relied heavily on support from the Soviet Union and the other members of the Socialist Bloc. Approximately 50 per cent of Cuba’s food came from abroad. When the USSR collapsed [in 1989], Cuba ground to a halt. Without Soviet oil, city streets were emptied of cars and, more ominously, tractors were idled in the fields; domestic agriculture production fell by half.

The average per-capita calorie intake fell from 2,900 a day in 1989 to 1,800 calories in 1995. Protein consumption plummeted 40 per cent. As Cubans lost weight, cats disappeared from the streets of Havana, destined for family soup pots.

People and Planet