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Institutionalizing agroecology: successes and challenges in Cuba

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Abstract

Over the past two decades, Cuba has become a recognized global leader in sustainable agriculture. This paper explores how this process of agricultural transition has taken place, and argues that it has largely been led by research institutes, non-state organizations and the Cuban government, which have all contributed to the institutionalization of agroecology in both policy and practice. This process has been highly effective in terms of the numbers of people using agroecological techniques. However, although these techniques have been widely adopted by farmers across the country, this paper suggests that many still perceive maximizing production to be a higher priority than maintaining a commitment to agroecological ideals. For these farmers, agroecological farming is viewed primarily as a pragmatic decision rather than an ideological or moral one, and they may thus be susceptible to shifting back to conventional production if this option became politically and economically feasible

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Notes

  1. CCSs are cooperatives in which each member remains largely responsible for the management of his or her own parcel. The most common form of non-state land tenure, in 1998 CCSs covered approximately one million hectares. CPAs function in a more communal manner, with major production decisions being made by a management board and land managed collectively by the cooperative community. In 1998 there were approximately 700,000 ha of CPA land. Together, cooperative land, along with a relatively small number of independent farms, accounted for about one quarter of Cuban farmland Álvarez (2002). UBPCs consist of land previously belonging to state farms and are also run as cooperatives with management boards. In 1997 they occupied approximately 40% of Cuba’s agricultural land (Martín 2002). In 1997 over 400 ha were devoted to urban agriculture (Altieri et al. 1999). Private cooperatives as well as UBPCs and urban farms are currently growing in number, while the state-owned sector is in gradual decline.

  2. With the recent election of Raul Castro as Cuba’s new president, some changes are already occurring, and a close eye should be kept on the agricultural sector to assess how liberalization may affect farming practices.

Abbreviations

ACTAF:

Asociación Cubano de Técnicos Agropecuarios y Forestales (Cuban Association of Agricultural and Forestry Technicians)

ANAP:

Asociación Nacional de Agricultores Pequeños (National Association of Small Farmers)

CENSA:

Centro Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuario (National Centre for Agricultural Health)

CREE:

Centro de Reproducción de Entomofages y Entomopatogenos (Centre for Reproduction of Entomphages and Entomopathogens)

INCA:

Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Agrícolas (National Institute of Agricultural Sciences)

MINAGRI:

Ministerio de Agricultura (Ministry of Agriculture)

NGO:

Nongovernmental organization

UBPC:

Unidad Basico de Producción Cooperativa (Basic Unit of Cooperative Production)

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Acknowledgements

The authors are extremely grateful to all the farmers who participated in this study and opened their homes and hearts to the researchers involved. We would also like to thank four anonymous reviewers and the editor of this journal, Dr. Harvey James, for their constructive criticism and support in the writing of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON, Canada, N1G 2W1

    Erin Nelson

  2. Department of Geography and Environmental Management, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave West, Waterloo, ON, Canada, N2L 3G1

    Steffanie Scott & Judie Cukier

  3. Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Agrícolas (National Institute of Agricultural Sciences), Carretera Tapaste km 3.5, San José de las Lajas, Gaveta Postal No. 1, Habana, Cuba

    Ángel Leyva Galán

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  1. Erin Nelson
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  2. Steffanie Scott
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Correspondence to Steffanie Scott.

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Nelson, E., Scott, S., Cukier, J. et al. Institutionalizing agroecology: successes and challenges in Cuba. Agric Hum Values 26, 233–243 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-008-9156-7

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