Agroecology-A
system that can feed people with healthy affordable foods
Hemantha Withanage,
Executive Director, Centre for Environmental Justice, Sri Lanka
Fernando Funes is a Cuban academic
who left his teaching job to become a farmer. His two Ha land produce Lettuce
and other salad plant to meet the demand in Cuba and even export to France and
Belgium. His bee hives produce honey for the local and international market.
Few kilometers away former horse raiser Alexander manage ecological farm “La
Burgambilia” which produce vegetables such as Brinjal, Tomato, Pumpkin, salad
plants and other varieties. He expertise on keeping stingless bees, a species found in
the Cuban mountains. His European verity of bee hives have given to
Mario.
When someone want to become a
farmer he/she can apply for a land to the government if they don’t already own
a land. They will be given knowledge to manage the farmland in an ecological
way and once ready the farmland will be recognized as an agroecology farm. The
government insure the farm land for crop failures due to climate or other
disasters. Government even help to transport Mario’s bee hives to other nearby
locations time to time to make available
adequate flowers for the bees.
They are members of a Credit
& Services Cooperativa Credito y Servicios (CCS) which government of Cuba
has able to put together soon after the Cuban revolution across the nation. CCS
and Cooperativa Produccion Agropecuaria (CPA)
are two different cooperatives established by the Government guaranteeing that
the members produce the food for the nation and percentage of their production
is purchased and distribute to the local consumers in an affordable price. Now,
over 400,000 farmers are members are attached to more than 4000 Cooperatives. Both
men and women farmers who are ready to contribute their land to the Cooperative
can become a member. They also have enterprises too and cover both urban and
rural agroecological gardens. The farmers themselves can sell some crops at the
local market. Based on the different type of sales they pay the taxes to the
government. They can also involve in the decision on the taxes.
Each Cooperative society has a local farmer members who elect their
board members. Both men and women in the cooperative are being elected to the
board. They go from village level to provincial level to the national level. Every
CCS and CPA member is a members of the Association Nacional de Agricultores Pequeños
Dirección Nacional(ANAP) which is a political association
established in 1959 during the Cuban Revolution. So they are represented at the
highest political level. We eyewitness the election process at the Assembly in
the Alquizar municipality. Every cooperative has an agroecologists and other
experts. Every village has a Doctor look after by the Cooperative. They have
even supported the young generation to get educated to become professionals. They
give free foods for the people and children suffer from cancer or other long
term sicknesses. Cuban agroecology farmers have a better housing and dignified
life. It’s a highly systematic process developed by the Government of Cuba to
feed eleven Million Cubans.
The Cooperatives have
tractors, other farming equipment and the irrigation systems provided by the
government ore purchased by them. Sixty percent of this fleet is now in the
yards due to the blockade. But the agroecology farmers haven’t stop their
responsibility to meet the food production target given to them.
The agroecology farmers in Cuba do not have to face the competition with
the private corporate producers and the foreign imports. They have a better
environment for concentrating the production without agrochemicals, hybrid
seeds and GMOs. There is no bad influence by the dirty corporate giants and neoliberal
policies. The political system has already absorbed these threats through its
revolution. But they have difficulties in accessing export market due to
the blockade.
However, agroecology is not just a farming and sustainable food
production chemically free. It is fundamentally a system of production in
ecologically friendly way with organic fertilizer and biological pest control.
It is a system of soil improvements without damaging the soil organisms. It is also
a system that production, storage transport and even reach to the consumers to
provide affordable healthy food for people. It needs sound policies, scientific
knowledge, research and development, guaranteed pricing mechanism, crop
insurance and assured market. Much more than that, it requires a good attitude.
Cubans have built that sprit over hundreds of
year struggle against the neoliberal colonizers. They follow the slogan
of their supreme leader Fidel Castro “Saving mother earth is saving our life”.
Seventh Conference on Agroecology, Sustainable agriculture and Cooperativism organised by ANAP brought together over 300 farmers and
agroecology promoters attached to FOEI strategic partner La Via Campasina
representing Latin American countries, Europe Africa and Asia to Cuban Capital
Havana from 15th November for a one week to learn the Agroecology
experience in Cuba and share the experiences in own countries. FOEI delegation
had the opportunity to learn from these experiences to build its advocacy
across the world.( END)
