Book Review - Wendy Emmett

Sustainable Agriculture and Resistance: Transforming Food Production in Cuba is a story of resistance against all odds. It describes Cuba’s remarkable recovery from a food crisis brought about by the collapse of trade relations with the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries, and the tightening of the US blockade. Unable to import food, or the farm chemicals and machinery to grow food by conventional means, Cuba turned towards self-reliance. Sustainable agriculture, organic farming, urban gardens and allotments, smaller farms, animal traction and biological means of pest control and fertilisation are all part of a successful change which has been brought about in Cuba.

The first developments in organic agriculture in Cuba were publicised in 1994 in The Greening of the Revolution. This earlier book sparked international interest by showing that a small country can guarantee the health and food security of its populations, whilst protecting the environment, under the most difficult circumstances. The progress that has been made since 1994 is detailed in this new book, which is co-published by Food First, ACTAF (Cuban Association of Agricultural and Forestry Technicians) and CEAS (Centre for the Study of Sustainable Agriculture, Agrarian University of Havana).

The book, which is edited by Cuban and North American authors, includes chapters by a number of Cuban specialists. The first part provides a background to the socialist economic and institutional context of Cuban agriculture, and its recent transformations, including details of changes in land tenure, agricultural education and training, and technological changes. The second part deals with the alternative practices that characterize the new model of food production, and this includes ecological pest management, intercropping, animal traction, organic soil management and the integration of crops and livestock. The final part of the book includes case studies of two new co-operatives, and details of specific crops - sugar and small-scale rice production, and details of developments in ‘green’ medicine and urban agriculture. The book concludes with a very comprehensive list of acronyms, and details of the authors and institutions.

This book shows, in a clear, accessible way, how it has been possible to implement the new methods, and how the government has been flexible enough to recognise the necessity of changes, within socialist patterns of production, demography, and human relations. The achievements in sustainable agriculture are impressive, and in 1999 the Cubans were awarded the Right Livelihood Award, known as the alternative Nobel Prize, in the Swedish parliament.

The Cuban experience has demonstrated that the adoption of ecological agricultural methods can bring about productive and economic benefits in a socially equitable manner. This book, which is suitable for the non-specialist as well as the more knowledgeable reader, offers details of these achievements that can act as an inspiration for the rest of the world.

Wendy Emmett

‘Sustainable Agriculture and Resistance – Transforming Food Production in Cuba’.
Edited by Fernando Funes, Luis Garcia, Martin Bourque, Nilda Perez and Peter Rosset.
ISBN 0-935028-87-0
Food First Books Co-published with ACTAF and CEAS
Food First Books are distributed by LPC Group, 22 Broad Street, Suite 34, Milford, CT 06460.
(800) 343 4499

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