Adjusting agriculture to reality

By Elsa Claro

HAVANA – Of all the people of Cuba (11.2 million), only 30 percent live in rural areas and out of that fraction only 18 percent are engaged in the production of agricultural goods. That explains in part – only in part – that giving land to farmers, giving them credits or materials is not enough to increase food production. Along with everything that decentralizes and stimulates, we need a definition of the agricultural model to be used.

Industry specialists applaud the steps taken, but consider them incomplete, and even question the willingness or ability of some functionaries to participate in a transformation. There are factors that hinder and even poison the course of what is sought; a case that is never cited enough is the marketing through concentrators that, like Acopio, are unreliable.

Cuba’s agricultural sector is obligated to shake off prejudices and bad habits, to nourish from ideas and functions that are known but not always applied.

"With revenues from tourism and other sources, we should acquire the quality supplies that farmers need. Most importantly, we need to hear from them what they need, not offer them what is decided in an office (…) I’m not referring to tractors and large machinery, but to machetes and hoes, for example,” specifies science Ph.D. Roberto Caballero, who years ago left academia, where he studied agronomy, to join an agricultural cooperative where he learned what cannot be learned in universities.

According to my interlocutor, if we change several existing patterns we would achieve:

1.         A profitable agriculture, not subsidized.
2.         A socially just industry, with prices lower than today’s, which are ruinous to large numbers of people.
3.         An agriculture that is not environmentally aggressive and allows us to recover the soil, which is badly damaged.

The depopulation of the countryside is the result of erroneous criteria. In an effort to uplift the rural sector, we urbanized it massively, says Caballero, recalling how the rural youth were not encouraged to qualify in careers related to family traditions and were led to other careers, away from their natural environment.

Today, the best reward for those who cling to the land is earning lots of money but that is not enough. For decades, electricity was delivered to places where it did not exist and many roads were built, as part of a development that did not always take into account the habits and requirements of the peasantry. However, there are still few telephone lines, transportation, street construction or repair and the infrastructure that facilitates the existence of local residents.

There is much talk of the so-called feeling of belonging “and I think we should speak of the feeling of ownership, the idea that the land and the house are theirs, achieved with their effort” and that is socially distinguished, says Caballero. He clarifies that ownership does not mean that all land should be privatized, but the farmers should be given greater participation in the decisions that affect them.

Apart from the subjective and its enormous importance, we must consider that Cuba has adverse conditions that make this task difficult. One is the extraordinary variety of soil types in the same territory. This makes it difficult to obtain good yields, especially if the crop is large. Outside of sugar cane, which is not very demanding, and some other crop, extensive plantations rarely yield good harvests.

We also have a highly variable climate, with factors almost impossible to predict. All this suggests that small farms are preferable, without exaggerating the point, of course.
"Experience has shown that higher yields and greater efficiency are achieved at those levels, since every element is more controllable, and if there is damage for some reason, recovery is faster. I speak about cooperatives or Basic Units of Cooperative Production (UBPC) 150 to 300 hectares, or a little more,” says Caballero.

(…) “We tend to overstate the importance of technology, of material resources in general. In the 80s we had more tractors and agro-chemicals in Cuba than in Canada and the United States. Even today, we have a greater amount of irrigated areas than in many rich countries,” he adds.

Having many mechanized means is preferable for optimal agricultural results, he says. That’s the consensus at ministerial levels, a thought shared by many producers, especially those with less experience.

 “Our problem is not the technology, it’s the approach, it is functional, structural, an inconvenience that you find not only in Cuba, but in most of Latin America.” The road to follow, Caballero believes, is to adjust the sustainable agriculture to the Cuban reality and to do so municipality by municipality, with the resources and characteristics of each site.

If we need to use more oxen, there must be smithies, because now there are workshops for mechanical implements, but we must have the possibility of repairing tools, and create biopesticides, among other factors.

Under a scheme such as this, Roberto Caballero participates in a program called Agroecological Articulation, a design of alternatives for local food security. With that title was presented a Cuban proposal that won a European Commission contest. The E.C. and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (HIVOS) are endorsing an experiment carried out by the Cuban Association of Agricultural and Forestry Workers (ACTAF).

The project works in support of national efforts in urban and suburban agriculture, which has had a good record in recent years. The project is implemented in Cienfuegos, Ciego de Avila, Camagüey, Las Tunas and Bejucal; it empowers the local activists, those who decide and those who produce.

“Many told us that if we brought together such diverse factors, each would go his own way, but fortunately and surprisingly, that didn’t happen. As soon as we said, ‘you are responsible for guaranteeing the food in this area and production will be led from here, they all agreed and are working on that basis (…) It is exciting and beautiful.”

Put simply: the delegations of the Ministry of Agriculture, the People’s Power or others at that level exchange ideas and decide, together with the farmers or their delegates, with real participatory approach, the terms proposed for their municipality.

“When you work horizontally, you unite and multiply the capabilities and performance,” said Caballero, a member of a group characterized by pragmatism. They do not dismiss any procedure or method, so long as everything is done with the people united toward the same goal and among whom there is less room for failure.

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