Havana's Green Revelation
The urban gardens in Cuba, promoted by Oxfam partner The Group for Integrated Development in the Capital (GDIC), are providing a reliable source of food and strengthening the very fabric of the communities in which they flourish.
After the collapse of the Socialist bloc, Cuba's agriculture system became paralyzed. Crops withered in the countryside, with no means of transporting them to urban centers. Cuba's heavily centralized model, dependent on foreign imports, collapsed overnight. In a three-year period the economy plummeted by more than 35 percent as trade traffic became virtually non-existent. As a result, the national caloric intake dropped by a third as many Cubans lost as much as 20 pounds.
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| Children in Havana, where Oxfam partner GDIC is providing tools and training for urban gardens. Many vegetable plots were once abandoned lots or dumping points. By: Jennifer Ungemach/Oxfam |
The Cubans called this the special period, but as the decade wore on it became the norm and not the exception.
The economic aftershocks of the special period are still felt in Cuba's capital today. It is estimated that 30 percent of the population of Havana lives in sub-standard housing. The city's population puts considerable stress on Havana's civil systems—principally transport, water, sanitation, and, perhaps most critically, a scarce food supply.
Producing food for domestic consumption has been one of Cuba's greatest challenges. In the last decade, Oxfam partners have met this challenge with many creative solutions, including the introduction of urban gardens which use small spaces in urban areas to produce food locally.
The gardens have drastically changed the pattern of food distribution within Cuba. Urban farming has been a remarkable success as city gardens now provide urban dwellers with a third of the vegetable diet recommended by the FAO. Today, half of the fresh produce consumed by two million Havana residents is grown by "nontraditional urban producers," in abandoned lots and green spaces wedged into the crowded topography of the city.
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| Oxfam partners have installed more efficient irrigation systems to increase farmers' productivity, and supply resources such as organic fertilizers and tools. They are also sponsoring workshops on urban gardening techniques, covering a wide array of topics such as organic pest control and raised-bed techniques. By: Jennifer Ungemach/Oxfam |
GDIC is combating food shortages in Cuba by:
Providing irrigation systems for three urban gardens in Havana The program seeks to strengthen food security in these neighborhoods by empowering community organizations to produce food for home consumption and resale;
Empowering neighborhood leaders to train their communities in articulating their most pressing needs, and creating effective proposals to address them. These concerns range from garbage collection to transportation services and housing;
Providing training courses to community groups on a variety of topics, including cultivation, insect management, organic composting, permaculture, and environmentally-friendly practices;
The vision of GDIC goes beyond vegetable production to a vision of vibrant communities. They have identified communities that are socially, economically, and politically isolated, and are seeking to connect them to a variety of resources. Each of the three gardens involved in the project have moved beyond their initial charge of producing vegetables for local consumption, and are now investing in other ways in their neighborhoods. One of the gardens is providing vegetables for a community daycare, another is hosting visiting students who are interested in studying the project.