BBC recording – Cuba and Urban Gardening

Photos by John M. Morgan and Faith Morgan 2004

Sunday 15 March 2009
Recordings: 26 minutes

Dusty Gedge, London TV (BBC).

Roberto Perez, Antonio Nunez Jimenez Foundation de la Naturaleza Y el Hombre in Cuba.

Vilda Figeroa, for 30 years a nutritionist at the Cuban Government Research Institute.

Justo Torres Lazo, urban farmer in Havana.

Madelaine Vasquez, food researcher, writer and presenter of the weekly TV programme “Con Sabor”

Guests:

Dr Julia Wright, head of programmes at Garden Organic and author of Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in an Era of Oil Scarcity: Lessons from Cuba

Ben Reynolds, coordinator of Capital Growth , a scheme launched last November by London mayor Boris Johnson and the woman he appointed to be the chair of London Food, Rosie Boycott.

What is the potential for growing our own food? Sheila Dillon looks at the Mayor of London’s new project to make more land available for food production. She also looks at the experience of Cuba where political and economic change forced the population to attempt an “organic revolution” as the country struggled to produce enough food to survive. One response was to grow more food in urban areas.

This experience has struck a chord with UK groups interested in “peak oil” food production, and the film The Power of Community: How Cuba survived Peak Oil has toured the UK to enthusiastic audiences.

So what can we learn from Cuba and how productive could urban farming be in the UK?

Link to BBC recording here.

Power of Community (film) – How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba’s economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half – and food by 80 percent – people were desperate. This film tells of the hardships and struggles as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban people during this difficult time. Cubans share how they transitioned from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods of farming and local, urban gardens. It is an unusual look into the Cuban culture during this economic crisis, which they call “The Special Period.” The film opens with a short history of Peak Oil, a term for the time in our history when world oil production will reach its all-time peak and begin to decline forever. Cuba, the only country that has faced such a crisis – the massive reduction of fossil fuels – is an example of options and hope.

Link to Power of Community here.