Sustainable Urban Agriculture in Cuba

Bibliographic Data

ID19981477
AuthorsSinan Koont (corresponding author)
Year2011
Pages236
Publication date2011-12-11
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueSustainable urban agriculture in Cuba (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherUniversity Press of Florida (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.5744/florida/9780813037578.001.0001
OpenAlexW622325225
Open LibraryOL24907170M
ISBN9780813037578
LanguageEN
Citations received10

This book examines one of the first and most successful large-scale, organic, and agroecological urban agriculture efforts currently being attempted in the world, namely, in Cuba. This trailblazing role was forced upon Cuba by historical circumstances. Cuba's food-production system, based on large State Farms, collapsed after the disintegration of the Soviet Union and Eastern European socialism in the early 1990s. By 1994, Cuban food intake from all sources had fallen to 1863 calories per day per person. The Cuban response to this “food crisis” was to start producing food near cities to avoid transportation and storage costs (and without using petrochemicals). In vegetable production, for example, there was a thousand-fold increase in urban output in the decade following 1994. After examining the historical background of the Cuban turn to urban agriculture, the book considers the organizational, technical, political, scientific, educational, and policy-based foundations of this effort. Separate chapters address the government-guided organization of this sector; the research and development efforts in science and technology; the training, education, and input-provision processes; and the material and moral incentive structures that led to success. Further chapters discuss 1) some Cuban urban-agricultural examples, based on field visits by the author; and 2) overall production and distribution outcomes, as well as other effects in the community, the environment, and employment. A concluding chapter considers what lessons or conclusions can be drawn from the experience of the last fifteen years, not only for Cuba itself, but also for others interested in sustainable urban-food production

Agricultural productivity · Agriculture · Agroecology · Economic growth · Economics · Food processing · Food security · Food systems · Geography · Government (linguistics) · Green Revolution · Incentive · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Sustainable agriculture · Urban agriculture · Cuban History and Society · Law · Agriculture and state · Cuba · Economic conditions

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