Cuba Needs to Improve Food Production

Farmers markets are thriving in Cuba and this direct marketing method has helped them survive the collapse of the Soviet Union, but food production problems remain and the government is determined to do something to change this.

The Plaza of the Revolution in Havana Cuba is an example of the type of direct marketing that removes the middle men from the food production equation. The farmer brings the food to a central location and the people, the consumers, come and buy. This is what our farmers’ markets are all about and the market in the Plaza is a large scale version. At the Plaza of the Revolution the food shopper will find hundreds of trucks that provide an abundance of fresh food, for example, plantains, sweet potatoes and onions. While the choices may be limited, the food is affordable and the consumers are increasingly getting what they need. Tens of thousands of people make their way to the farmer’s trucks each month. However, the picture is not all rosy. Government officials are worried about recent drops in food production and prices that everyone agrees are too high. Hundreds of trucks overflowing with plantains, sweet potatoes and onions converge on the Plaza of the Revolution each month as farmers sell produce to tens of thousands of people. The Plaza and other markets around Cuba are where Cubans come seeking affordable food. While they may not be able to find everything they want, they are increasingly getting what they need, even as the island's communist leaders grow more worried about drops in food production and prices that remain frustratingly high for many Cubans. The scene on market day shows how far Cuba has traveled over the past fifteen years when the Soviet Union collapsed and food production took a nose dive leaving many people hungry. At that time Cuban food production and much else was dependent upon the Soviet Union to meet their needs for chemical fertilizers and pesticides for example. When the doors closed the products vanished and the food economy spiraled downward. It has been a long and painful climb up but there is upward progress. Not enough though to satisfy Cuba’s leader. Raul Castro has been at the forefront of the new agriculture in Cuba. This week, under Raul Castro’s leadership, Raul is in charge while brother Fidel recovers from intestinal surgery, Cuban lawmakers are examining the food production situation. The reason for concern is a 7 per cent drop in Cuba’s food production in 2006. Cuba imports approximately 1.6 billion in food each year, with one-third of that coming from the United States. The food imports include 82 per cent of the food items that are sold at subsidized prices to all Cubans on the ration system. These items include rice, beans, meat and potatoes. Raul Castro’s role in Cuba’s food production encompasses actions such as paving the way for the food markets and creating the Youth Work Army, a military branch that produces food for the nation. In December 2006, he demanded that food production be increased and that payment to small farmers and cooperatives, which were overdue, be paid. The cooperatives are ready and eager to increase their production but need help from the government to do so. ”

There are cooperatives around Havana with the potential to double and even triple their production," Orlando Lugo, president of the National Association of Small Farmers.

The abandoned sugar cane fields could become farms but have become infested with a fast-growing, thorny bush called marabu added Lugo. According to state economist Ariel Terrero, Cuba can reduce its import costs by producing more of its own food. For example, between the years 2002 and 2005, rice imports by 36 percent and the Cubans paid 105 percent more. The price increase is a result of rising international prices.

"The perpetual bleeding conspires against the possibilities of the nation's economic development," Terrero.

In 1993, the cooperatives and small farms were created. The Cuban government began to restructure its centralized food production system. Big state farms were broken up and turned smaller worker-owned and managed units. Smaller parcels went to individual farmers. There are now more than 150,000 individual farmers and agriculture cooperatives which produce two-thirds of the country's food and only use a third of the island's workable land. State farms work the rest. Beans, corn and root crops are the main products that the cooperatives provide. They also supply one third of Cuba’s rice as well as 42 percent of its milk and more than half of all meat, including pork, beef, goat and sheep. Once state quotas are met the cooperatives are free to sell the rest of their produce at the farmers markets. There are over 300 farmers markets across Cuba with approximately 50 in Havana. The Youth Work Army also sell vegetables at much lower prices at small neighborhood stands. In the early 1990s, Raul Castro also set up an urban agriculture program, which added an additional important food source. There are currently more than 350,000 urban farmers who grow fruit and vegetables in and around cities and sell their produce directly to the people.