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.
“Neighbours are happy with cheap vegetables fresh from the field. Ms. Bouza never lacks for fresh produce, and she pulls in between $100 to $250 a month — many times the average government salary of $19.
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