Category — Cuba
Cuba plans city farms to ease economy woes
The suburban farm project dovetails with other steps introduced by Cuban president Raul Castro. Photograph: Ismael Francisco/AFP/Getty images
Project launched to ring urban areas with thousands of small farms in bid to reverse agricultural decline
By Marc Frank in Camaguey
The Guardian
7 February 2010
Cuba has launched an ambitious project to ring urban areas with thousands of small farms in a bid to reverse the country’s agricultural decline and ease its chronic economic woes.
The five-year plan calls for growing fruits and vegetables and raising livestock in four mile-wide rings around 150 of Cuba’s cities and towns, with the exception of the capital Havana.
February 7, 2010 No Comments
Opportunity for 10 Canadians to study urban agriculture in Cuba

Permaculture Cuba! An Immersion Experience in Sustainable Urban Agriculture in the Heart of Cuba
For seven weeks in May and June of 2010, ten Canadians will have the opportunity to experience first hand the thriving urban agriculture and permaculture movements in Cuba. Based in the beautiful city of Sancti Spiritus, participants will work hand-in-hand with local leaders and practioners on a variety of fascinating projects producing food in the heart of the urban setting. Grounded in a model of partnership and collaborative learning, the program will include:
January 26, 2010 No Comments
200 Urban Farms in Havana
Havana relies on 200 urban farms known as organoponicos
The vegetable gardeners of Havana
By Sarah Murch
BBC Two’s Future of Food
August 2009
Climate change, drought, population growth – they could all threaten future food supplies. But global agriculture, with its dependence on fuel and fertilisers is also highly vulnerable to an oil shortage, as Cuba found out 20 years ago.
Around Cuba’s capital Havana, it is quite remarkable how often you see a neatly tended plot of land right in the heart of the city.
August 23, 2009 No Comments
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”
March 31, 2009 No Comments
In the wake of three hurricanes Cuba again turns to its urban gardens

Reuters Photo. A man works in an urban garden in Havana October 24, 2008.
By Esteban Israel
Dec 15, 2008
HAVANA (Reuters) – After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Cuba planted thousands of urban cooperative gardens to offset reduced rations of imported food.
Now, in the wake of three hurricanes that wiped out 30 percent of Cuba’s farm crops, the communist country is again turning to its urban gardens to keep its people properly fed.
December 17, 2008 No Comments
Cubans hope urban gardens will solve food shortages caused by hurricane damage.

REUTERS – Oct 28, 2008
Reuters video in Spanish, linked. The video doesn’t seem to have been picked up by a news outlet and there is no news commentary in the footage. A raw script, which accompanies the video, and translation of the comments by the Cubans who were interviewed, is attached below this article.
Cubans hope urban gardens will solve food shortages caused by hurricane damage.
In the face of its greatest food shortage since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba has fallen back on urban agriculture, which helped provide relief in the 1990’s during the Caribbean island’s “special period”.
November 7, 2008 No Comments
Cuba’s Urban Farming Program a Stunning Success

With Food Prices Soaring, Cuba’s Urban Farms Could be a Model for the World
Niko Price, Associated Press
June 9, 2008
Photo by Javier Galeano/
“Ms. Bouza was a research biologist, living a solidly middle-class existence, when the collapse of the Soviet Union — and the halt of its subsidized food shipments to Cuba — effectively cut her government salary to $3 a month. Suddenly, a trip to the grocery store was out of reach.
“So she quit her job, and under a program championed by then-Defence Minister Raul Castro, asked the government for the right to farm an overgrown, half-acre lot near her Havana home. Now, her husband tends rows of tomatoes, sweet potatoes and spinach, while Ms. Bouza, 48, sells the produce at a stall on a busy street.
June 13, 2008 No Comments
Agriculture in the City – A Key to Sustainability in Havana, Cuba

“This book presents the results of a 3-year research project on the history and state of urban agriculture in Havana, Cuba. A multidisciplinary team of 15 professionals, coordinated by the authors, assess the long-term potential for including urban agriculture in the social economies of two areas of Havana, as well as in city-wide environmental management programs.”
January 27, 2008 No Comments
Organic Cuba Without Fossil Fuels – The Urban Agricultural Miracle

“Urban agriculture nationwide reduces the dependence of urban populations on rural produce. Apart from organoponicos, there are over 104 000 small plots, patios and popular gardens, very small parcels of land covering an area of over 3 600 ha, producing more than the organoponicos and intensive gardens combined [1]. There are also self-provisioning farms around factories, offices and business, more than 300 in Havana alone. Large quantities of vegetables, root crops, grains, and fruits are produced, as well as milk, meat, fish eggs and herbs. In addition, suburban farms are intensively cultivated with emphasis on efficient water use and maximum reduction of agrotoxins; these are very important in Havana, Santa Clara, Sancti Spiritus, Camaguey, and Santiago de Cuba.
January 22, 2008 No Comments