LIVING GREEN - Thursday, May 8, 2008
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Good morning, 

Yesterday we looked at how North Korea's over-reliance on 
industrialized farming techniques and practices combined 
with their refusal to change when supplies vanished with 
the collapse of the Soviet bloc lead to the famine which 
paralyzed the country in the 1990s. 

Cuba faced similar problems. In some respects, the challenge 
was even bigger in Cuba. Before 1989, North Korea was self-
sufficient in grain production, while Cuba imported an 
estimated 57 percent of its food, because its agriculture, 
especially the state farm sector, was geared towards pro-
duction of sugar for export. 

But when they saw disaster coming they adopted a completely 
different approach. Scroll down to find out how Cuba solved 
their agricultural crisis and how some of their solutions 
can apply to us if we are smart enough to implement them in 
time. 

Thanks for reading, 

Your Living Green editor 


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After the Soviet collapse and the tightening of the US em-
bargo, Cuba lost 85 percent of its trade, and its fossil 
fuel-based agricultural inputs were reduced by more than 
50 percent. At the height of the resulting food crisis, 
the daily ration was one banana and two slices of bread 
per person in some places. Cuba responded with a national 
effort to restructure agriculture.

Cuban agriculture now consists of a diverse combination of 
organic farming, permaculture, urban gardens, animal power, 
and biological fertilizing and pest control. On a national 
level, Cuba now has probably the most ecological and 
socially sensitive agriculture in the world.

The coming of peak oil will shake the very foundation of 
the global food system. The hardship Cuba and North Korea 
experienced in the 1990s may very well be the future we 
all face. It will impact both already-ailing rural sectors 
in many Third-World countries, and highly subsidized agri-
culture in the North. Cuban agriculture shows that there 
is an alternative—increasing output and growing better food 
while reducing chemical inputs is possible with proper re-
structuring of agriculture and food systems.


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