As absurd as it may appear, the strategy and experience of the Cuban "Special Period" of the nineties of the past century could be useful to the West in terms of the crisis that is plaguing the world today.

An article published by the influential U.S. television network CNN, has just put forth this idea, in light of the successful way in which Cuba has managed to overcome its crisis. The demise of the Soviet Union represented for the country and was further compounded, by the intensification of the fifty-year economic blockade, and the hostility and threats of aggression by the U.S. government – headed by George W. Bush.

Matt Ford, author of this piece of investigative journalism for CNN, commented, “Since the revolution in 1959, Cuba has been many things to many people, but the collapse of the Soviet Union meant few have seen the island state as a vision of the future. But this may be changing - at least in one aspect. "

Inasmuch as the problems of the developed nations grow, the communist republic is proving increasingly popular as an example of how to address these difficulties, for one simple reason: they have been through them.

The society was suddenly confronted with a dramatic reduction in oil supplies and the result was a fundamental reorganization of food production that led to the development of urban agriculture, which required less supplies than conventional agriculture.

"With the collapse of the Soviet Union Cuba was in a position where no-one thought it would survive – they lost 80 percent of their trade overnight,” says Wendy Emmett of the UK-based Cuban Organic Solidarity Group (COSG). “As a result the priority given to food changed, and it was immediately seen as much more important."

He adds that throughout Havana, vegetable gardens began to proliferate on a small scale which quickly spread to other cities and towns on the island, while smaller centers were created to store fruits and vegetables produced locally, with fuel savings implications because of the reduction in the need of transporting these goods from the countryside.

"In the countryside, oxen and horses replaced tractors. Manual labor replaced machines. A huge program of land re-distribution was instigated. Many of the vast collective farms beloved by communist planners started to look inefficient, and so were broken up into units more manageable without fleets of tractors," states the article.

In describing some of the features of the strategy of the Special Period in Cuba, the writer recalls that in the most tense years, there were certainly people who complained a lot, but working together the school children never went without their milk. "Throughout it all they didn't close any hospitals, they didn't close any schools; they kept going against the odds. In many ways they show us what is possible, what a community can achieve when they work together; the power of co-operation."

“Of course a powerful authoritarian state and strong central planning made such huge changes easier to implement; a similar process of development might be very different, and possibly lees successful, in the West”, stated the CNN article.

He also states, "But as an increasing number of people believe we will soon face a major social and economic crisis as oil supplies dwindle over coming decades, many believe we have a lot to learn from the Cuban experience.”

"The industrialized world can learn that its dependency on oil will eventually push it through similar experiences to that which Cuba had to face in the 1990's, and with similar outcomes," says Julia Wright, author of "Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in an Era of Oil Scarcity: Lessons from Cuba."

"Cuba inspires groups overseas wanting to develop alternative, more sustainable farming and food systems, partly based on the myth that has built up around Cuba being organic," says Wright.

According to the article by CNN, Cuba has come out of the most difficult moments of the “Special Period” but urban organic agriculture will continue to expand to the suburban areas.

Quoting Wright again, the article states, "But whatever the years ahead bring, Wright believes the experience of the "Special Period" has left its mark on Cuban society.”

It is somewhat ironic, in a sense, yet comforting to the Cubans that the sacrifices, which have been imposed by the superpower because of its vile purposes, at least serve as lessons for mankind.

CNN article: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/03/29/eco.cubaagriculture/index.html

HAY QUE APROVECHAR EXPERIENCIAS CUBANAS

Por Manuel E. Yepe

Por paradójico que parezca, la estrategia y las experiencias cubanas del “período especial” de los años noventa del pasado siglo podrían e útiles a Occidente en las condiciones de la crisis en que se adentra hoy el mundo.

Un trabajo publicado por la poderosa cadena televisiva CNN, de los Estados Unidos, acaba de lanzar tal idea, a la luz de la manera exitosa en que Cuba ha logrado sobreponerse a la crisis que para el país representó la desaparición de la Unión Soviética, agravada por la intensificación del semi-centenario bloqueo económico, y de la hostilidad y las amenazas de agresión dispuestas por el gobierno norteamericano encabezado por George W. Bush.

Matt Ford, autor del trabajo de investigación periodística para la CNN, argumenta que “desde la revolución en 1959, Cuba ha sido muchas cosas para mucha gente, pero el colapso de la URSS hizo que pocos vieran a la Isla como una visión del futuro. Pero esto pudiera estar cambiando - al menos en un aspecto”.

En la medida en que crecen las dificultades en las naciones desarrolladas, la república comunista está demostrando ser un ejemplo crecientemente popular de cómo abordar estas dificultades, por una simple razón: ellos ya pasaron por ellas.

La sociedad se vio de repente enfrentada a una dramática reducción de los abastos de hidrocarburos y el resultado fue una reorganización fundamental de la producción alimentaria que llevó al desarrollo de la agricultura orgánica urbana, requerida de menos insumos que la agricultura convencional.

“Con el colapso de la Unión Soviética, nadie podía suponer que Cuba podría sobrevivir la pérdida del 80 por ciento de su comercio exterior de un día para otro”, dice el autor citando a Wendy Emmett, una especialista británica. “El resultado inmediato fue que la alimentación comenzó a considerarse más importante que antes.

Agrega que por toda La Habana comenzaron a proliferar jardines de cultivo en pequeña escala que rápidamente se extendieron por otras ciudades y centros urbanos de la isla, en tanto que fueron creados pequeños centros de expendio de las frutas y vegetales producidas localmente, lo que repercutía en ahorro de combustibles por la disminución de las necesidades de transporte.

“En el campo, bueyes y caballos tomaron el lugar de los tractores, el trabajo manual reemplazó las máquinas y se ejecutó un amplio programa de redistribución de la tierra. Muchas grandes unidades agrícolas, preferidas por los planificadores comunistas, consideradas ineficientes fueron divididas en pequeñas unidades más manejables sin flotas de tractores”, dice el artículo.

Al describir algunas de las características de la estrategia del periodo especial en Cuba, el articulista recuerda que, en los años más tensos, había ciertamente personas que se quejaban mucho, pero trabajaban unidos y la leche nunca faltó a los niños escolares. “A todo lo largo del período especial, ningún hospital se cerró, no se cerró ninguna escuela, todo seguía funcionando a pesar de todo. De muchas maneras los cubanos nos demuestran lo que una comunidad puede lograr cuando trabaja unida; el poder de la cooperación”.

“Por supuesto que un Estado autoritario poderoso con una fuerte planificación central ha hecho que estos grandes cambios hayan sido más fáciles de implementar; un proceso similar de desarrollo probablemente sería diferente y posiblemente menos exitoso en Occidente”, sustenta el articulista de la CNN.

Luego sostiene que “comoquiera que un creciente número de personas creen que pronto enfrentaremos una importante crisis social y económica por la mengua en las próximas décadas de las reservas de petróleo, muchos consideran que tenemos mucho que aprender de la experiencia cubana”.

El mundo industrializado debe saber que la dependencia en el petróleo eventualmente lo empujará por similares experiencias que las que ha enfrentado Cuba en la década de 1990, con parecidos resultados, dice el periodista citando a Julia Wright, autora del libro “Agricultura sostenible y seguridad alimentaria en la era de la escasez de petróleo: lecciones de Cuba”.

“Cuba inspira a grupos que, en todo el mundo, pretenden sistemas agrícolas y alimentarios alternativos y sostenibles basados en parte en el mito surgido en torno a la Cuba ecológica”, escribió Wright.

Según el articulista de CNN, ya Cuba ha salido de los momentos más difíciles del período especial pero la agricultura orgánica urbana pero la agricultura orgánica urbana continuará extendiéndose a áreas periurbanas.

“Pero cualquier cosa sea lo que traigan los próximos años, la experiencia del “período especial” ha dejado su marca en la sociedad cubana”, dice citando nuevamente a Wright.

Es algo irónico, y en cierto sentido reconfortante para los cubanos, que los sacrificios que le han sido impuestos por la superpotencia con propósitos tan viles, sirvan al menos como experiencia a la humanidad.

Mar 30, 2009 12:18 AM

Marzo de 2009

Can the West cultivate ideas
from Cuba's 'Special Period'?

Story Highlights
Cuba's economic hardship in early 1990's led to reorganization of agriculture
Urban and organic farming implemented plus break up of inefficient large farms
Some see Cuba's experience as way to cope with problems of future oil crises

By Matt Ford
For CNN

(CNN) -- Since the revolution in 1959 Cuba has been many things to many people, but the collapse of the Soviet Union meant few have seen the island state as a vision of the future.

But that could be changing -- at least in one aspect.

As worries grow in developd nations about a future without plentiful supplies of oil, the communist republic is proving to be an increasingly popular example of how to cope when the spigots run dry, for the simple reason: they've already been there.

With the loss of supplies from oil-rich Russia in 1991, and a U.S. embargo preventing imports from elsewhere, Cuba was plunged into a severe recession in the early 1990's, referred to as "the Special Period."

Suddenly society was faced with dramatically reduced amounts of hydrocarbon energy, and the result was a fundamental reorganization of food production, leading to a boom in urban organic agriculture, which requires fewer inputs than conventional farming.

"With the collapse of the Soviet Union Cuba was in a position where no-one thought it would survive -- they lost 80 percent of their trade overnight," says Wendy Emmett of the UK-based Cuban Organic Solidarity Group (COSG).

"As a result the priority given to food changed, and it was immediately seen as much more important."

All over Havana small-scale organic gardens were started on roof-tops, backyards and in empty parking lots, spreading rapidly to other cities and urban centers.

Farmer's markets known as "Kiosks" sprang up providing city-dwellers with access to locally-grown fruit and vegetables, cutting the use of oil in transporting food in from the countryside.

In the countryside, oxen and horses replaced tractors. Manual labor replaced machines. A huge program of land re-distribution was instigated. Many of the vast collective farms beloved by communist planners started to look inefficient, and so were broken up into units more manageable without fleets of tractors.

The process is still ongoing. In February 2009 the Cuban authorities announced that 1,827 square miles of state land would be given to Cubans with agricultural experience or other citizens.

But this change wasn't easy. Prior to the "Special Period" Cuba had been a heavy user of oil-based chemical fertilizers, and much of the land was heavily degraded, requiring years of careful manuring to restore fertility. However, despite the obstacles, they did it.

"I was there in 1992, which was one of the most difficult years, and certainly people were moaning a lot, but they worked together, they still kept the milk coming for the schoolchildren," says Emmett.

"Throughout it all they didn't close any hospitals, they didn't close any schools; they kept going against the odds. In many ways they show us what is possible, what a community can achieve when they work together; the power of co-operation."

A blue-print to cope with problems post-peak oil?

Of course a powerful authoritarian state and strong central planning made such huge changes easier to implement; a similar process of development might be very different, and possibly lees successful, in the West.

But as an increasing number of people believe we will soon face a major social and economic crisis as oil supplies dwindle over coming decades, many believe we have a lot to learn from the Cuban experience.

"We can also learn that if we do not have the necessary capacities in place, our food production system will be caught short, as was Cuba."

All over the world from New Zealand to the United Kingdom members of the Transition Town Movement, which aims to help communities prepare for the twin challenges of peak oil and climate change, hold regular screenings of the film, "The Power of Community", an upbeat documentary that explores the Cuban experience, alongside films about our oil addiction such as "The End of Suburbia" and "A Crude Awakening."

"Cuba inspires groups overseas wanting to develop alternative, more sustainable farming and food systems, partly based on the myth that has built up around Cuba being organic," says Wright.

"Organic farming in Cuba only operates in urban areas, not rural... [but] the Cuban organic movement and the people within it are highly dedicated to their work and will continue to influence and be influenced by the organic movement overseas."

The future is less clear. New allies are once again opening Cuba up to the outside world -- and providing fresh oil supplies.

"Hugo Chavez is supplying Cuba with increasing quantities of oil and agrochemicals, so Cuban agriculture -- and here I'm talking about rural farms which supply 95 percent of the nation's domestic food needs -- is becoming more industrialized, though it will not revert back to the extreme practices of the Soviet era," says Wright.

"Organic urban agriculture will continue and likely continue to expand out to peri-urban areas."

But whatever the years ahead bring, Wright believes the experience of the "Special Period" has left its mark on Cuban society.

"The crisis that Cuba suffered has made it a better place in certain aspects, as people had to become more resilient and self-sufficient and less wasteful," says Wright.

"Although Cubans would certainly say that their food shortages and lack of inputs has been a hardship."

Can the West cultivate ideas from Cuba's 'Special Period'?

Can the West cultivate ideas
from Cuba's 'Special Period'?