Organopónicos

''Organopónicos'' or organoponics is a system of urban agriculture using organic gardens. It originated in Cuba and is still mostly focused there. It often consists of low-level concrete walls filled with organic matter and soil, with lines of drip irrigation laid on the surface of the growing media. ''Organopónicos'' is a labour-intensive form of local agriculture.

''Organopónico'' farmers employ a wide variety of agroecological techniques including integrated pest management, polyculture, and crop rotation. Most organic materials are also produced within the gardens through composting. This allows production to take place with few petroleum-based inputs.

''Organopónicos'' first arose as a community response to lack of food security during the Special Period after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is publicly functioning in terms of ownership, access, and management, but heavily subsidized and supported by the Cuban government.

Background

During the Cold War, the Cuban economy relied heavily on support from the Soviet Union. In exchange for sugar, Cuba received subsidized petroleum, petroleum products, agrochemicals (such as fertilizers and pesticides), and other farm products. Moreover, approximately 50% of Cuba's food was imported. Cuba's food production was organized around Soviet-style, large-scale, industrial agricultural collectives. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba used more than 1 million tons of synthetic fertilizers and up to 35,000 tons of herbicides and pesticides per year.

With the collapse of the USSR, Cuba lost its main trading partner and the favorable trade subsidies it received from it, as well as access to oil, chemical fertilizers, pesticides etc. From 1989 to 1993, the Cuban economy contracted by 35%; foreign trade dropped 75%. Without Soviet aid, domestic agriculture production fell by half. During this time, known in Cuba as the Special Period, food scarcities became acute. The average per capita calorie intake fell from 2,900 a day in 1989 to 1,800 calories in 1995. Protein consumption plummeted 40%.

To address this, Cuba began to seek ways to increase its food production. This was done through the creation of small private farms and thousands of pocket-sized urban market gardens. Lacking many chemicals and fertilizers, much food became de facto organic. Thousands of new urban individual farmers called ''parceleros'' (for their ''parcelas'', or plots) emerged. They formed and developed farmer cooperatives and farmers markets. These urban farmers were supported by the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI), who provided university experts to train volunteers in the use of biopesticides and beneficial insects.

Without artificial fertilizers, hydroponic equipment from the Soviet Union was no longer usable. Instead, this was converted for the use of organic gardening. The original hydroponic units, long cement planting troughs and raised metal containers, were filled with composted sugar waste, thus turning ("hydroponics") into ''organopónicos''.

The rapid expansion of urban agriculture in the early 1990s included the colonization of vacant land both by community and commercial groups. In Havana, ''organopónicos'' were created in vacant lots, old parking lots, abandoned building sites and even spaces between roads.

Current status

In 2009, more than 35,000 hectares (over 87,000 acres) of land are being used in urban agriculture in Havana alone.
Havana produces enough food for each resident to receive a daily serving of of fruits and vegetables. The urban agricultural workforce in Havana has grown from 9,000 in 1999 to 23,000 in 2001 and more than 44,000 in 2006. However, Cuba still has food rationing for basic staples. Approximately 69% of these rationed basic staples (wheat, vegetable oils, rice, etc.) are imported. Overall, however, approximately 16% of food is imported from abroad.

The structures of ''organopónicos'' vary from garden to garden. Some are run by state employees, others are run cooperatively by the gardeners themselves. The government provides community farmers with the land and the water, and sells key materials such as organic compost, seeds, irrigation parts, and organic pesticides called "biocontrols" in the form of beneficial insects and plant-based oils. These biological pest and disease controls are produced in some 200 government centers across the country.
All garden crops such as beans, tomatoes, bananas, lettuce, okra, eggplant and taro are grown intensively within Havana using only organic methods, the only methods permitted in the urban parts of Havana. No chemicals are used in 68% of Cuban corn, 96% of cassava, 72% of coffee and 40% of bananas. Between 1998 and 2001, chemicals were reduced by 60% in potatoes, 89% in tomatoes, 28% in onion and 43% in tobacco.

Organoponics, efforts have been negatively evaluated by some authors, mainly in the wider context of government agricultural policy. A 2012 article in ''The Economist'' stated:

The same article claimed that, as of 2012, there were plans to privatise farming and dismantle ''organopónicos'', as part of broader plans to improve productivity. However, as of 2018, organopónicos are remain an active component of the Cuban agricultural system.

Applicability beyond Cuba

In Venezuela, the socialist government is trying to introduce urban agriculture to the populace. In Caracas, the government has launched Organoponico Bolivar I, a pilot program to bring ''organopónicos'' to Venezuela. Urban agriculture has not been embraced in Caracas. Unlike Cuba, where ''organopónicos'' arose from the bottom-up out of necessity, the Venezuelan ''organopónicos'' are a top-down initiative based on Cuba's success. Another problem for urban agriculture in Venezuela is the pollution in major urban areas. At the Organoponico Bolivar I, a technician reads a pollution meter in the garden every 15 days.

See also

* Allotment gardens
* Community Supported Agriculture
* CPA (agriculture)
* Food security
* Garden sharing
* Guerrilla gardening
* List of community gardens
* Sustainability
* UBPC
* Urban gardening (disambiguation)
* Urban horticulture

References

External links

Urban Agriculture in Cuba (Photo Essay), Noah Friedman-Rudovsky, Oct 18 2012, NACLA.org


"The Urban Agriculture of Havana," ''Monthly Review'', 2009-Jan


* ttp://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Link-Page?id=5039&SC= Garden Activist: Cuba's Second Revolution

The Growing Success of Organoponicos, Greenhouse Canada, by Gary Jones

Changes on the Horizon for Cuba's Sustainable Agriculture

Eat Local: Cuba's Urban Gardens Raise Food on Zero Emission
* Greg Morsbac
Cuba's organic revolution
BBC, June 27, 2001.

Food Photography: Organic Agriculture in Cuba
* Bill McKibbe
The Cuba diet: What will you be eating when the revolution comes?
''Harper's Magazine'' April 1995.
* Esteban Israe
In "eat local" movement, Cuba is years ahead
Reuters, December 15, 2008.
* Andrew Buncomb
The good life in Havana: Cuba's green revolution
''The Independent'' 8 August 2006
* Scott G. Chaplow
Havana's Popular Gardens: Sustainable Urban Agriculture
''WSAA Newsletter'', Fall 1996, Vol. 5, No. 22. Reprinted at cityfarmer.org

{{DEFAULTSORT:Organoponicos
Organic gardening
Agriculture in Cuba
Composting