Cuba was first visited by Christopher Columbus on the 27th of October, 1492, and its first village was established in 1512. The village of St. Christopher of Havana was founded on the 16th of November, 1519.

Characteristics of the city

Geography and climate
The city of Havana covers an area of 720.84 Km², which represents 0.67% of the total area of Cuba. It is characterised by a tropical climate with a mean annual temperature of 25°C, relative humidity of 79% and annual average precipitation of 1400 mm.

Political and Administrative divisions
The country is politically and administratively divided into fourteen provinces and a special district governed directly by central govemment. Within these divisions there are 169 municipalities, and 1498 People’s Councils which are the bodies of government at the community level.

The city of Havana constitutes one of the fourteen provinces and the capital of Cuba. The city itself is divided into fifteen districts which are all considered urban, they are: Plaza de Ia Revolución, Centro Habana, Habana Vieja, Regla, Habana del Este, Guanabacoa, San Miguel del Padrón, Diez de Octubre, Cerro, Marianao, La Lisa, Boyeros, Arroyo Naranjo and Cotorro; and in which there are 104 People’s Councils.

Population
The capital has a population of 2,192,321 inhabitants, which represents 20% of the country’s total population and 27% of the urban population. Of the population, 48% are men and correspondingly 52% are women. There are 622,035 nuclear families, the majority of which are of two or three people. And 1,499,547 people are of an economically active age.

The Havana area has a population density of 3,014 people per square kilometre. Districts with the greatest population are Diez de Octubre (with 11% of the city’s inhabitants), Armyo Naranjo (9%) and Plaza de la Revoluci6n (8.5%). Those districts with the highest population density are Centro Habana with 45,093 inhab/Km², Habana Vieja with 21,774 inhab/Km² and Diez de Octubre with 19,480 inhab/Km².

The city of Havana is the socio-economic centre of the country, and the benefits which it receives as part of the socialist system are described by the following statistics: the city has 14,007 doctors, of which 6,160 are family doctors, representing a doctor for every 1,565 inhabitants; and for example, there is a gastrologist for every 894 inhabitants. Additionally, 96.5% of 6 -14 year olds have access to education, and 80% of homes in the capital are owned by their occupants.

Economic Sector
The capital creates 34% of national industrial output. Principal industries and social activities engaged in are: the steel and engineering industries, the food industry, light industries, pharmaceuticals, electricity generation, drinks, tobacco, tourism, education, construction, health and research.

Production for commercial purposes in 1998 increased by 1.5% and productivity, in relation to commercial production, increased by 2.5% over that of 1997, and likewise, minor commercial activity increased its productivity by 2.7% over the same period.

Urban Agriculture

The Emergence of Agriculture in the City
Agriculture in the city can be traced back to 1638 when the first monastery consisting of the convent and church of Santa Clara de Asis was built in the village, in which space was dedicated for an orchard and for the production of vegetables.

The first laws of the revolutionary government gave the right to each citizen of education, health, sport; culture, housing and the ownership of the land that the people cultivated.

The fall of the communist system in many Eastern European countries at the beginning of the 1990’s deprived Cuba of markets, and significantly modified its economy, as it was highly economically integrated with those countries; in fact, 80% of Cuba’s trade was with ex-communist countries. During 1993/94 supplies destined for agriculture decreased by 67%. The absence of animal feeds and scarcity of agro-chemicals and the paralysis of agricultural machinery, transport and irrigation systems for the lack of petrol and components, suddenly obliged the country to adjust development plans regarding aviculture, porciculture and rice and livestock production.

The country designates large amounts of resources both material and human to the scientific and technical formation of the agricultural sector. In Cuba there exist thirty three agricultural research centres, nineteen of which are directly under the management of the Agriculture Ministry; and eleven of which are based in Havana, forming a body that assists the development and introduction of science in agriculture.

Food supply problems that the country confronted caused by the sudden loss of supplies from traditional markets and the upsurge in the blockade by the United States of America, required that the country developed non-conventional food supply programmes. And although the Havana District is primarily urbanised it was not exempt from this search.

During the present decade the city of Havana initiated a great effort in order to produce part of its own fresh fruit and vegetable requirements, that up until recently had almost all being supplied by other provinces. With this objective the Agriculture Programme was organised and directed at putting into horticultural production all available spaces. At present, of the 720,84 Km² that the province occupies, 299,38 Km2 (or 41% of the province) is in agricultural use; this represents 0.4% of the total area in Cuba dedicated to agriculture.

The Ministry of Agriculture in Havana has organised its support into thirteen urban "farms", one in each municipality suitable for agriculture. These farms are charged with the task of supplying the needs of cultivator groups, which are; Credit Service Co-operatives (CSC), Basic Production Unit Co-operatives (BPUC), Allotment Groups (AG), Organoponic Groups (OG), Intensive Orchard Management Groups (IOMG) and State Co-operative Supply Units (CSU). In these groups can be found a range of producers from those specialising in one crop or animal, to those that combine animal and vegetable production.

The Concept of Urban Agriculture
"Urban agriculture is the production of food stuffs through the application of intensive methods of cultivation and husbandry within the urban perimeter by utilising to their maximum potential all available areas, human effort, integrated human-crop-animal systems and all available urban infrastructure, with the goal of optimising a diversity of crops and animals that will guarantee a permanent and year long harvest".

Characterisation:

Urban agriculture is participative, commonly practised and extremely heterogeneous in the range of situations in which it is found.
Urban agriculture involves low levels of inputs, it does not allow the use of agro-toxins, it is very efficient in its use of water, it takes great care in the maintenance of soil fertility, crop and animal management and in environmental protection.
Urban agriculture is an intensive, high output system that favours the production of a diversity of crops and animals throughout the year. Its development depends on the ability of the producer to avail him/herself to new ideas and knowledge, to practice adjustments in the search for solutions to his/her daily challenges, in conjunction with scientific investigation.

Categories of organisation

Groups of Allotment Cultivators
Community orchard, managed by allotment cultivators, is the most common form of urban agriculture in the city of Havana. There are more than 20,000 such orchards and small allotments, and they now form an integral part of the Havana landscape.

This movement began to see how urban agriculture could be an alternative source of food supply for 5,000 cultivators. The majority of those involved began exploiting nearby spaces applicable for production by utilising time outside their normal working hours. The areas under cultivation are of a small-scale and include patios and plots on average of 1200m².

The city government organised the availability of the plots for production with the intention that local people could avail themselves of the opportunity to obtain produce for the family table and for sale within their local community. These plots, for the major part, were destined for the construction of houses and other buildings, or as improvised waste dumps. The value of these plots is now vested in the production of food stuffs, and today, these areas are respected and defended by local people for that inherent reason and for their value as aesthetic green community spaces.

In 1994, the decision was taken by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Provincial Government to organise the City of Havana Urban Agriculture Provincial Group with the intention of fortifying and giving momentum to community initiatives. Community orchards had functioned in isolation, but through this initiative, they formed into organised cultivator groups and now 908 such groups with 17,900 members exist. This allows them to receive training to improve their agricultural practices. The training has been founded on the principals of sustainability and low input agriculture, and has allowed them to use the scarce resources that they have at their disposal efficiently.

These community orchards at present cover 24,387 hectares and produce 24,984 tonnes. The city’s agriculture finances sixty-eight extensionists that operate at the level of the Community Councils and provide advice at all stages of the production process.

Basic Production Unit Co-operatives (BPUC)
BPUCs exist throughout the city and are composed of between 5 to 10 members according to the land and other resources they have available.

These groups are protected by Law 142 (1993) which is aimed at general agricultural producers, sugarcane producers and ranchers, whom are afforded the opportunity to commercialise their production and to re-invest their earnings to stimulate further production.

The city is constructing 148 BPUCs with the intention of eventually forming 300. Equally, it is in the process of fomenting Ranching BPUCs of which sixteen already exist.

Organoponic (OGs) and Intensive Orchard Management Groups (IOMGs)
Organoponic groups are found throughout the city and on its periphery. Their method of production resembles that of the orchards, differing only in the fact that in the zones in which OGs are located, the soils are not of good quality. It is necessary to excavate areas in which substrates that contain large quantities of organic material can be placed. The technological-package applied in production includes using high yielding variety crops, sowing at appropriate times, rotation and intercropping, irrigation and applying integrated pest and disease management.

This form of production has now been refined, and at present there are 773 such active units, that occupy 386 hectares, that yielded 14 Kg/rn at the end of 1998. This form of production is not only employed by BPUCs but also other groupings, including, farms, work centres, educational establishments and campesino-farmers in general.

A group of twenty OGs in Havana have come together to form the Metropolitan Vegetable Company, they cultivate nineteen irrigated hectares, and as such, are able to obtain good yields. These groups have been financed entirely by the government as part of its objective of feeding the people.

The company’s principal products are lettuce, radish, cucumber, tomatoes, spinach, celery and condiment species, among others; additionally, each organoponic group cultivates medicinal plants along its margins. The vegetables are characteristically produced during winter months, as summer weather conditions do not allow for good production. The urban agriculture year is then split into two ‘periods: the spring period (April - September) and the cold period (October - May). The intensification of vegetable production through urban agriculture has meant that vegetables are available in Havana markets throughout the year, something which before hand was not so.

Since the organoponic groups receive 50% of the profits from sales they are highly animated to maintain a high output. These groups can be found in places with easy access to the general population and in fact, they have converted themselves into commercial centres and have entered into contracts with the majority of the 3313 cultivators in their forty-six Credit Service Co-operatives (CSCs), that have 5050 cultivatable hectares.

Farms for the State Co-operative Supply Units (CSU)
Production from these farms is destined for Work Centre cafeterias, however, the surpluses of which are sold to their workers for their household. (In Cuba the majority of the worker centres have cafeterias where for a small charge a meal is offered to its workers.) The 316 farms occupy an area of 40,126 hectares where they cultivate a diverse range of crops, such as vegetables, grains and fruits, but they also produce meat, fish, eggs and milk. At present, these farms are being converted into BPUCs, in order that they become profitable, and that their overheads do not come from the state budget.

The Various Products Company
Occupies the fringe between the more urbanised zones and those zones more agricultural. It is organised into municipal farms and 390 other farms with 13 to 20 hectares of land. (These farms are formed by a union of various smaller properties -fincas.) Each farm manages its finance through the banking system and sells its produce to the company at reasonable prices, dividing its profits between its workers according to pre-set agreements.

Inclusive in this arrangement are seventy-four hydroponics units that amount to fifty-six hectares.

The company dedicates the majority of its land to the production of fruits (including citrus), coffee and vegetables. Among its fundamental objectives is the supply of fresh agricultural produce to the increasing level of tourism within the city and its surrounding areas.

Ranching Association (RA)
The RA includes all cattle ranchers in the country, whom together have 41,384 head, and of which, 38,480 are cows. Of the cows, 16,619 are privately owned and 12,468 belong to the state. Additionally, there are 2,904 horses.

The RA is formed by 16 BPUCs, 5 farms, 68 ranches and 30 micm-ranches, 53 development units and 3475 cow owners. Together in 1996, they obtained a production level of 6,757,875 litres of milk, but in 1998 they produced 8,969,765 litres. However, this sector has been strongly affected by the limited availability of feed concentrates.

As a material base for all forms of production established within the country there are the:

Agricultural Store-Consultancy Network
Battery Egg Production Network
Veterinary Clinic Network
Biological Pest Control Centres Network

Agricultural Store-Consultancies
Havana possess a system of twenty-three Agricultural Store-Consultancies which have the objective of guaranteeing the technical and material viability of urban agriculture. The store-consultancies are largely found in urban zones where their task of supplying producers is fundamental. The products they supply include; seed, biofertilisers, bio-pesticides and soil conditioners. Additionally, based in the Community Councils, technical consultancy is offered through field visits by well qualified agronomists and others with substantial agricultural experience.

Battery Egg Production
The technology of obtaining eggs laid in battery farms has been introduced with the development of urban agriculture in the city, and little by little, it has demonstrated to the producers its advantages. At present there are five battery farms with a capacity to produce 800,000 eggs per annum, and there are a further five such farms planned. This new technology was introduced to the city with the help and collaboration of "German Agro-Action".

Veterinary Clinics
Before the development of urban agriculture there only existed one clinic in the Havana province, today there are nine and each Community Council has its own veterinary service

Biological Pest Control Centres (BPCC)
There are eleven BPCCs that provide a service to all producers. The centres are charged with the task of producing and supplying bio-pesticides through the store-consultancy network. These products are regarded as fundamental for the development of urban agriculture. The city has regulations which do not permit the application of chemical products within the city; furthermore, the Phytosanitary Service operates a system of inspectors that are able to fine for any violation of the regulations. The general economic situation, in conjunction with the afore-mentioned regulatory system has resulted in the accelerated adoption and use of bio-predators.

Urban Agriculture and the Environment
The city of Havana does not face such grave environmental problems as other large cities throughout the world, however, it does induce environmental damage and alterations to the atmosphere in the form of residual water discharge, noise pollution, disposal of solid wastes and deforestation.

The city daily generates 1,4000 tonnes of solid wastes from residential areas. Urban agriculture can contribute to the recycling of this material through the formation of composts and humus- and this is the challenge. The City Government has created a centre for the recycling of organic material through the production of compost, while there are three additional provincial centres and a network of People’s Councils and individual producers which now account for more than twenty-five such operations.

"My Green Programme"
During the last forty years various reforestation programmes have been initiated with the objective of rehabilitating the forest cover that due to urbanisation and development has been reduced to 2.3%.

The city and national governments assigned the tasks of adequately assessing the impact on deforestation of the various programmes realised over the past forty years and reassessing the concept of reforestation in the light of the Province's Urban Agriculture Programme. As a consequence of this "My Green Programme" emerged. The Programme initiated a study with the intention of quantifying the actual situation, describing required reforestation and elaborating on the possibilities of planting new areas or rehabilitating old forested areas. Included in the assessment of ‘planting new areas’ were household gardens and patios, schools, work centres, militarised areas, parks and coastlines, etc. As a result of this initiative, the city has now initiated 5,120 Green Programmes which have the duty of planting 18,369,600 trees, of which, 2,425,600 are fruit trees.

The programme has the simple objective of reversing the silent disaster of the city’s deforestation by operating on the basic premise that no space should remain where a tree can be planted. This programme takes place at the community level and incorporates the participation of children, youths, women, workers, intellectuals, artisans and military personnel. It is widely regarded that "My Green Programme" has become the most cherished part of the Urban Agriculture Programme in the capital and that future generations will thank us for this foresight.

Plant Health
For a city with limited access to resources the development of urban agriculture requires a Phytosanitary Programme that is efficient and able to make good use of available pest management measures, such as IPM, if sustainable, organic agriculture is to be achieved. One of the fundamental characteristics of urban agriculture is its use of small, intensively managed plots means that the control of pests and diseases have negligible impacts on human and environmental health.

The different forms of pest and disease control are not utilised in isolation, on the contrary, the various forms are applied such that they supplement each other. The control techniques in question are: physical, mechanical, organic, biological, chemical and agro-technical.

• Physical control consists of the application of physical phenomena. For instance, the use of solar radiation in the control of nematodes and other insects and diseases found in the soil.
• Mechanical control involves manual activity to remove insect pests including weeding and the collection of larva.
• Organic control involves the use of plants that have insecticidal properties, for example, Tobacco and Neem.
• Biological control involves the use of beneficial (predatory) insects, fungi and bacterias; and there are operations within the Urban Agriculture Programme that specialises in the breeding and culture of these organisms.

To develop these measures and to verify their effectiveness a phytosanitary structure was installed at the municipal level which, with the aid of extensionists, integrates farm plant health with the Agricultural Store-Consultancies.

The Role of Urban Agriculture in Food Security, Nutrition and Health

There has been a commitment on behalf of the Revolutionary Government to guarantee food for the whole island and maintain low prices on basic foods, which include rice, grains, sugar, salt, eggs and meat, among others. Additionally, food supplies for children, the elderly, pregnant women and for those with special dietary needs are highly protected by the state.

Although the climate in Cuba is much more disposed to winter agricultural production, one of the aims of urban agriculture to provide the year round availability of vegetables. For this the urban Agriculture Programme has worked at creating a culture of agriculture that has allowed the producer to adopt strategies that emphasises a diverse range of crops, healthy eating habits by the population at large and food preservation during periods of abundance.

Urban Agriculture and the Family Economy
As a consequence of the problems experience by the national economy and through the disappearance of socialist markets there has been a reduction in the availability of employment, which has impacted negatively on some families.

With the development of urban agriculture in the city there has emerged new employment possibilities. The city of Havana, to date, has 26,426 workers connected with urban agriculture, and in the year gone by, urban agriculture accounted for 6 - 7% of new jobs.

Some of the families affected by national economic problems have not only found the employment that they needed, but also a source of income that has allowed them to improve their quality of life. And in fact, many of the families involved in urban agriculture receive incomes higher than the national average. Additionally, savings are made in the family budget as the producers involved directly supply their own family unit.

It is worth mentioning that urban producers on average sell their produce 20% more cheaply than mainstream market traders, this makes good nutrition much more accessible for Havana families, and likewise urban agriculture sales act to lower free market prices.

The Role of Gender in Urban Agriculture

Women constitute 52.5% of the Havana population and have a life expectancy of Seventy-seven years, four years more than men. Women represent 46% of the civil sector, 66.8% of technicians, 81% of educationalists, 79% of medical personnel, 89% of administrative workers, 40% of deputies in the City Municipal Assembly, 30% of delegates to the Provincial Assembly and 23% of national constituency delegates.

Women play an important role in urban agriculture, cultivating a large part of the produce. In the city of Havana women linked to the Urban Agriculture Programme have the majority of decision-making positions, and 53% of agricultural technicians-administrators are women.

Table 1 - Technical/administrative occupation

Table 2 - Women dedicated to production activities

Urban Agriculture Policy

The development of urban agriculture in Cuba and specifically in the capital has received the support of a number of decisions and measures taken at different governmental level which has allowed to link productive areas step by step and the massive inclusion of growers to the achievement of the main objective of Urban Agriculture: ‘To place at the service of agriculture all the existing productive potential in the territory warranting a large supply of produce during all the months of the

Instead of hindering urban planning, all this has become an important complement in the city’s urban development.

Before locating Urban Agriculture units their possible impact within the urban context is studied. Some of these units (Organoponics) are organised under a construction project in conformity with the environment, whether a main avenue or neighbouring buildings, in such a way that their presence instead of giving an out of place appearance communicates an effect of beauty to its urban environment.

In every case the organisation of an Urban Agriculture productive unit in Cuba requires the approval of the corresponding governmental level (People’s Council, Municipality and Province), and in those cases in which their organisation is in private owned plots they must comply with the corresponding existing regulations, whether from the construction, technological management or marketing point of view of their productions.

As a general rule all productive units in urban Agriculture market their produce in the unit itself. In cases of overproduction in some crops all marketing facilities are offered which could be in other sales stands or deliveries in the area.

The conception of Urban Agriculture units has become an important hygiene and food complement factor for the residents of the neighbourhood in the urban development of all our cities.

Both crop planting and animal breeding are carried out by technologies completely compatible with the urban environment in which they are developed to avoid health hazards and environmental damages.

At the same time, actions are taken to create the necessary conditions for the development of agricultural production activities that do not affect human health of the environment. One example is the rearing of pigs, which is located in the urban periphery with strict sanitary management and veterinary control.

Collaboration Projects

The first collaboration stage in Urban Agriculture started in 1991 with NGOs in Cuba. Four projects were executed and were characterised by little financial support facilitating tools and aspects related to education and training of producers.

The second collaboration stage started in 1994 till 1996 . Projects and exchanges with the associations, delegations, City Halls and financial agencies increased.

The last three years become the third collaboration stage when this general development programme in Urban Agriculture consolidates. The experience of Havana City is widespread to other provinces and work is in progress to accomplish the 17 food crop fruit and wood tree reforestation production programmes.

This collaboration is consolidated and project banks are being prepared giving training for this purpose. The programme of Havana City in urban agriculture based on organic and agroecological principles has had great results.

The fact that each municipality carries out its own projects according to its needs and potentials has been a great achievement.

Table 3 - Summary of Urban Agriculture projects (ongoing and finalised projects)

Factors that Impede or Facilitate the Development of Urban Agriculture

The necessity of having the consumer close to those crops which readily deteriorate during transportation, in conjunction with the ample availability of labour found in urban zones, are together, the factors which have most propelled the development of urban agriculture. Equally, the existence of appropriate urban areas and conditions for agricultural production have been significant factors in its development.

Another aspect worth highlighting within the factors that have allowed the development of urban agriculture in the city of Havana, is that the government has provided the citizens of Havana with the social and physical tools necessary to exploit the lands available. These tools come in different forms, including access to disused plots adjacent to the homes, the constitution of BPUCs- which can be formed from the producers own family if wished, and the constitution of farms, among others. The common factor among the tools provided by the government is that they seek to link the interests of the cultivator and increased production.

At one time or another, the development of urban agriculture has encountered numerous limiting factors which have been necessary to prioritise and overcome.

To achieve intensive cultivation and high output it has been vital to supply organic material. For this purpose a network of organic material supply centres and micro-centres have been established, with the help of government funding, which have the task of storing, processing, commercialising; and distributing this essential input on an equal basis to all urban agriculture locations.

A great number of production units have now reached a high rate of recycling and processing of post-harvest residues through the utilisation of composting and/or worm composting techniques. This practices has allowed a stronger link to be formed between horticultural production and animal husbandry.

Due to the location of agricultural plots/units within densely populated zones of the city it is not impossible to apply agro-toxins, which would not only pollute the environment, but would also poison the population directly and indirectly through residues to be found in the products themselves. For these reasons it has been necessary to develop as highly as possible the use of integrated pest management, which among other things, has required a stable supply of the biological agents and great discipline in their use.

The need to guarantee a broad mix of crops during the whole of the year brings with it by consequence the necessity to manage a great number of cultivars, many of which are of local importance.

A Brief Description of the Production Programmes

The dictum by which urban agriculture operates in Cuba is Production by the District, for the District

Medicinal plants (MP), herbs and spices, in their dry processed form, had traditionally been imported into the capital from other provinces; however, in order to satisfy demand, and as part of the development of urban agriculture, people began to sow medicinal plants in state farms, organoponicplots, intensively managed orchards and community orchards. At present Havana possesses a MP Storage-Commercialisation and Wellbeing Centre, while each of the groups mentioned have rustic plant drying facilities and are ultimately able to sell their products to the general public.

The city now produces more than thirty species of MP in accordance with popular and pharmaceutical industry demand. A level of specialisation now exists with regard to MP that herbal medicines are available in the form of capsules, tablets, powders and creams.

One problem of large cities is deforestation and Havana is no exception. In which case the city has been operating a programme that is attempting to rescue, maintain and create new forested areas. "My Green Programme" (as it is called) embraces wooded areas and grouped and individual trees that are found in patios, gardens, parks, schools, work centres, avenues and streets, motorways and in rural areas. Within the programme there now exists, eighty-six nurseries and ninety-two micro-nurseries. In unison with this programme other plant/product priorities are developed including coffee, flowers, omamentals and rice, among others.

Urban agriculture seeks to complement vegetable production programmes with programmes directed at meat production.

In Havana there can be found 700 rabbit rearing units with 3500 female rabbits. Of the 700 units, 301 are in partnership with the Rabbit Husbandry Company. Additionally, aviculture is popular among the population, and there are 170,000 birds directly in the hands of the population through the Urban Agriculture Programme.

Regulations exist that require pig production to take place away from areas that are likely to affect local populations or contaminate water supplies; as such, pig husbandry is conducted outside the city. It is reported that there are 63,000 pigs, of which, 68% are privately owned. Pig producers have formed a partnership with an outlet company similar to that of the rabbit producers.

Urban agriculture in the city facilitates other forms of meat production including sheep and goat rearing, however, on this occasion equal importance is given to the production of milk by these species. What's more, the milk of these animals is frequently used in prescription diets.

To maintain production in the areas mentioned, producers have access to the services offered by the Veterinary Clinics and the Community Councils, together these bodies safeguard the health and development of the industries, and furthermore ensure that they never impact negatively on human health and the environment.

The supply of water to the agricultural plots/units is an element of urban agriculture which receives much attention, in the majority of the city it is a resource in deficit, and in many cases, urban agriculture is in competition with the general population for water. To solve this problem cultivation practices directed at water use minimisation and the conservation of soil moisture have been established. Additionally, new methods which make the maximum use of rain and surface water have been studied. This has principally taken the form of the construction of micro-dams, but which as a consequence, has also allowed the growth of aquaculture.

The widespread and popular nature of urban agriculture has meant that many of the producers/cultivators that became involved had insufficient preparation and training. To overcome this problem a large and intensive training programme has been set in place throughout each district of the city. This training is conducted in the plots of the producer/cultivators and aimed directly at the problems which they encounter there.

The training programme employs a diverse range of teaching methods and techniques and includes the participation of officials, and agricultural specialists and researchers.

There has been significant local and national media (written press, radio and television) involvement in urban agriculture. The works that they have conducted have been based on the reporting of urban agriculture related themes, using examples drawn from the workers in the vanguard of production and relaying their activities to society in general.

The Prospects for the Development of Urban Agriculture in Havana

The development of urban agriculture in the city of Havana is unlimited; there is ample potential for this form of agriculture in a highly educated population with the ability to rapidly assimilate new techniques and concepts, within an organised society that provides its producers with the necessary resources which they can effectively use.

The agriculture practised today is more economically efficient, transportation is minimal, the use of agro-chemicals has been replaced by the use of biological products- which are produced cheaply within the country itself; urban agriculture is self-financing and therefore does not burden the state, and what’s more, practitioner salaries are higher than is usual. Not surprisingly both producers and consumers are aware of the advantages that today’s agriculture represents.

It is has only been a few years since the city was a large consumer and produced almost none of the products which it consumed, however, through urban agriculture the city has converted itself into one of the largest producers of vegetables in the country. Which demonstrates that the potential of urban agriculture is only at its beginning.

Until 1998 Mario Gonzalez Novo was head of the Havana Ministry of Agriculture Urban Agriculture Department. Since then he has worked in the agroforestry department of the MinAgri.