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According to recent sources, Cuban agriculture was so badly hit by the
collapse of the Soviet Union and its subsidies and support for imported
grain and oil (55% of Cuban food was imported and 97% of its animal
feed.) As a result, the average Cuban calorie consumption dropped by
almost 40 per cent and the average Cuban lost about 9 kilos (20 lbs).
Children especially were hit by malnutrition, the result of the
collapse of Soviet supplies and the American embargo. The result was
the 'revolution' in Cuban agriculture from the 'industrial agriculture'
model (the so-called 'green revolution' and large scale, soviet style,
collective farms) to the small-scale, local, organic model such that
now, between 60 and 90 per cent of Havana's food is produced in or
around the city itself in rooftop gardens, urban gardens and
'organoponics' - about 100,000 such gardens in Cuba's urban centres.
As a result of this 'revolution' Cuba has the cleanest, organic (60%)
food supply in the world and the calorie consumption has returned to
the level prior to the Soviet collapse. Milk and meat are still in
short supply since Cuban soil is not condusive to grain production. but
otherwise the diet is both adequate and healthy. This may also be a
significant factor in promoting life expectancy and lowering infant
mortality. One additional factor may be that these local gardens also
produce a wide variety of traditional herbal remedies and the Cuban
government has promoted major research in and production of
neutraceuticals as well as organic pesticides, herbicides and
fertilizers. (I have a short article coming out in the fall edition of
Canadian Dimension, "The Future of Agriculture: Is Cuba the Answer?"
which goes into this in more detail.) Paul P Michael Perelman wrote: Agreed. The flames add nothing to the list.On Wed, May 17, 2006 at 08:38:30PM -0700, Julio Huato wrote: |
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