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Only 90 kilometers off the coast
of Florida, Cuba is a success story in sustainable agriculture.
There are five main periods of agriculture in Cuba:
pre-colonial, colonial, Neo-colonial, socialist and secular era.
Labour and capital intensive monoculture prevailed in
agriculture under revolutionary Cuba. With the fall of the
Eastern block in the 1990’s, Cuba had to review its agricultural
policy. Cuba had then to face a new challenge: the need to put
forward an agricultural plan that would double food production
in order to feed its population without the extensive use of
machinery and chemical pesticides. An ecological agriculture
with less resort to fertilizers and chemicals was introduced. At
first a few farms started this ecological experience. They used
traditional farming techniques, pasture and crop rotations,
polyculture instead of monoculture, soil conservation, organic
soil amendments and biological pest control. When it proved to
be successful and increased the yield, it was spread to the
whole island. Bio pesticides, bio fertilizers and green manure
are now a reality in Las Terrazas in the province of Pinar del
Rio, Cuba. |
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