Digging & Dreaming

Day 20 - Monday 28th November 2011 - Cienfuegos

This was our first day with Xiomara so we were up and out of the house early to get over to her office for 9.30am – involving a very brisk walk in the already hot sun. Xiomara works for the urban planning department and is based in a busy little office in the centre of Cienfuegos. We started off at Xiomara’s desk for an hour or so looking at development plans and considering how Urban Agriculture is reflected in these plans. The reality being that there is a great foundation in existence that the council are keen to develop further in coming years – and that they have a legal obligation to develop!

After this discussion we headed out of the office to visit an organopónico out near the airport – the airport in Cienfuegos is relatively small and much of the land around the site is earmarked for urban cultivation. In order to get out there we travelled on a crazy Cuban Camel bus. This was basically as articulated lorry dragging around a kind of bus, kind of lorry, kind of thing stuffed full with people – and costing 40NP each. Really travelling Cuban style! Organopónico Aeropuerto in Cienfuegos

The organopónico we were visiting was about 10 minutes on the bus out of town. It was big, with a large number of canteros (beds) each hired out to food producers from the state at 2NP per month – 12 people shared the whole site. Most of the produce went to local schools then the producers were able to sell any surplus to the local community. A large portion of the site was shaded meaning the glare of the sun was reduced by about 30% and allowing the producers to grow more delicate crops.

The major issue they had on the day that we visited was water. The producers had a turbine bringing water out of their tank and across the site but this was broken so they had no sensible way of watering the large area of land they were cultivating. They were trying to fix the turbine but if they couldn’t find a way of doing it they would lose their crops. Sadly they had already lost their worms that had died due to lack of humidity.

To get back into town we travelled in a small horse drawn taxi that cost 50NP and that we shared with 5 other people – horses work very hard in Cuba! We got down just as we hit the outskirts of the town centre where we had a look at another, smaller organopónico which was right at the heart of an urban community. Sadly the producers had finished for the day – it is typical for them to start early and finish early to avoid the worst of the day’s sun. Growing food at the centre of the town

Walking back into town Xiomara began to explain how difficult things currently were for Cubans. She told us that she was 72 but carried on working because it made her feel useful in her older years. She had been doing her current job for over 20 years and before that she had worked for 20 years in the Ministry of Agriculture – her university degree in Santa Clara had been in Agronomy, which was where her interest in Urban Agriculture had come from. Her daughter was also well qualified as an Epidemiologist, living in Cienfuegos and working for the provincial Epidemiology unit. Though, as Xiomara rather modestly put it:

“Education is free here so a lot of people are very well qualified.”

Xiomara went on to explain that life for normal people in Cienfuegos was very difficult:

“We don’t earn much money so it is very difficult for us to live. People in Havana can earn extra money by doing work in tourism or by doing work outside the country but it’s hard for us to do that here. That means life is very difficult for us. Very difficult indeed.”

Before Xiomara went back to work we went for refrescos then she headed back to her office and we headed back to our casa to rest and hide from the sun until tea time. After tea we headed own to the point to enjoy the tranquility down there in the Tennessee William’s style world. One mojito was enough after the day to send us gently to sleep.

Mojitos at the point - the best in Cuba

Day 19 - Sunday 27th November 2011 - Cienfuegos

This was a full day to ourselves so we planned to spend the day exploring Cienfuegos. Following a delicious breakfast we headed out of the house into the sun that was already getting horribly hot by 10am. We started walking down to the little beach at the end of our street where there were children playing in the water and a gentleman snorkelling and trying to catch fish close to the shore. After a lit while there we followed the Malecón into the town, spotting a wide variety of fish in the bay as we went by.

Relaxing by the bay in Cienfuegos

In Cienfuegos we had a general explore to get a feel for the place with its busy but laidback town centre, including a buzzy little shopping street. Then we walked down to the beautiful town square where we sat for a while to relax in the shade. This was also where we spent time talking to a pleasant young guy who was happy to meet someone from England who spoke Spanish – an uncommon occurrence in his experience. He taught Spanish Literature at the local high school. His mother had a Phd in the same subject and worked at Santa Clara University. Once again a general sense of melancholy came across as to how tough his life in Cuba actually was. He also helped us learn some more informal ways of saying “hello” in Cuban Spanish. The we exchanged a UK £ coin for a 3 NP note – it was at times like this that I wished we had bought some more small change with us as it was nice to be able t make this kind of exchange with people.

After talking to the teacher we had a look around the local theatre which was built in 1889 and which is one of the most beautiful and oldest theatres in Cuba. So beautiful that when we found out that there was a dance performance that evening that we decided that we had to come back to see the theatre in action.

One thing that was noticeable in Cienfuegos is that there is much more begging for money, soap and pens than I had seen anywhere else. I don’t know if this was because the location of tourist drop offs and spots is much more concentrated but the level of begging was certainly much more noticeable than in Havana.

Lunch was another peso pizza from a guy on the main drag who had a really slick set up on the patio in front of his house, Including a great little oven he had rigged up and a couple of benches where customers could wait for their food. We order two pizzas with onion and he also threw in two free glasses of deliciously refreshing lemonade.

When it was time to head back to the casa to clean up before our show we decided to take a bici-taxi. Rather bizarrely the drivers will not give you a price for this but instead make the suggestion that you pay what you want. Slightly frustrating to say the least, as you aren’t quite sure how generous or tight you are being. We have tended to pay 2CUC and haven’t been blacklisted by the drivers so am assuming this is (hopefully) reasonable enough.

Extraordinary theatre in Cienfuegos

Following a freshen up we walked back into town to watch our contemporary dance matinee. A small but appreciative audience were treated to a surprisingly good quality of dance. It was particularly special to see such a glorious old theatre in action. When the show finished we walked out into the refreshing Cienfuegos evening and strolled back along the Malecón, which was now full of people out enjoying the evening in typical Cuban style. People of all ages out to savour the cool of the evening and the company of their friends and family. Such a lovely, sociable way of doing things that hardly exists in the UK at all anymore.

Day 16 - Thursday 24th November - Havana

Another hot and sunny day – Jo’s first in Havana. We started the day with breakfast in our casa before heading out to explore our neighbourhood.

The first thing that struck you as soon as you went outside was how busy and vital the place was. Even early in the morning the streets were full of people going about their business. Our casa was at the top of Havana Centro, just below the Malecón so we wandered down through the neighbourhood getting a feel for the place as we went.

Havana Centro is often ignored by visitors to Havana. The neighbourhood began to develop in the 19^th century following the demolition of the city walls in 1863. The buildings tend to be between 4 and 5 storeys, built mostly as apartment blocks. It is for this reason that it is a very densely populated part of the city. Laid out on a grid pattern it is easy to navigate and mainly residential so it is the perfect place to get a feel for hoe Cubans live in Havana. Now, many of the buildings are in a tumbledown state with many empty lots where houses have collapsed or are collapsing. We walked on to one of the central squares before heading on to the Old Town.

El Capitolio - Havana

As part of my trip I had arranged a meeting with Roberto Perez at FANJ so at 1pm we headed out to their offices in Miramar, to the West of Havana. This is Havana’s upscale residential district, laid out in an expansive grid of shaded streets, lined by fine mansions. It is a real contrast to Havana Centro where we started the day! Most of the original owners of the houses left Cuba following the Revolution leaving some of the mansions to fall into ruins. 

The FANJ building in Miramar

When we finally arrived at FANJ it was a real pain to learn that Roberto actually wasn’t there as his travel had been delayed following a trip to Canada. Fortunately Roberto’s wife Michelle was there and showed us around the museum and talked a bit about the work that they were doing there. Michelle, who is Australian, had previously worked with Bill Mollison and was hoping to develop more international relations for FANJ.

FANJ are a civil, non-governmental, non-profit, continuing the legacy of Dr. Antonio Núñez Jiménez through research and development programs and activities that promote a culture of values ​​toward nature on the local, national and international levels in order to harmonize society and environment. Their aspiration is to create a Cuban society with a developed environmental consciousness that recognizes Nature as part of their identity.

They are now a recognized organization with experience and ability to work, committed to the Cuban society and the world in solving environmental problems, with a perspective that integrates the sociocultural dimensions throughout. It was fascinating to learn about the work being done at FANJ and to look at the collections that they have on show there, but the most interesting thing was to browse through the huge collection of photos that they have on site. Antonio Núñez Jiménez was a close acquaintance with the Castros and it was fascinating to see the intimate and relaxed pictures of Fidel and Raul that were included in the collection.

Photographic collections at FANJ

After that we walked back into Miramar and headed to a mini-market in one of the big hotels that is common in this neighborhood where we bought some water and a snack, which we decided to carry down to the sea front and eat there. We settled down by the water on a concrete bench and we were soon joined by a young guy called Lazaro. I had come to learn in Cuba that you shouldn’t assume that everybody is attempting to sell you something. And even if they are they usually soften pretty quickly when they realise that you can speak Spanish! Lazaro was a great example of this. He just genuinely wanted to chat about life in general and life in the UK. He was especially interested as he said that Cubans rarely met people from the UK who could speak Spanish.

Lazaro explained that he worked as a fisherman out of Havana. He was fascinated to know about the climate in the UK and more about what Manchester was like. He also asked the typical questions about Manchester United and football in general – I hate football but it can be a great conversation starting point in other parts of the world! He explained that lots of people in Cuba followed the big Spanish teams, especially Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Lazaro also gave me a 3NP note as a present because it features the face of Che on one side. I felt sorry that I didn’t have anything to give back to him as a memory of the UK, especially as I later learnt that it is very common for hustlers to try and sell 3NP notes to tourists as a souvenir of their visit. Then it was time to head back into town and say goodbye to Lazaro-

“Will you be coming back down here whilst you’re in Cuba?” he asked.

“Probably not.”

“Will you ever come back to Cuba?”

“Possibly one day.”

“Well if you do come back, come and say hello – I’m here nearly everyday.”

After relaxing back at our casa and tidying up we headed back into town to Habana Vieja where we sat out in front of one of the cafes and had pizza and salad with Cristal beer for tea.

On our way back to our casa we were stopped by a jinetero trying to get us to go to a salsa club. Once again his mood changed when I started chatting to him in Spanish and I had my second football talk of the day (he was another Barcelona fan) Then it was back to our casa to sleep for the night.

Day 14 - Tuesday 22nd November - INIFAT and Havana

Today we started off by visiting a community food project in the suburbs of Havana. The project is run by a retired couple called Vilda and Pepe and is situated in the ground floor of their house. The focus of the work that they do is looking at food preservation, in particular food drying in the sun, and thinking about how these dried foods can help improve the health of Cubans. Especially how using dried herbs, which are very uncommon in Cuba, can help improve people’s food choices, health and well being.

Vilda and Pepe in Havana

It was fascinating to hear about the work that the couple were doing nationally and internationally, including their own cookery show on Cuban TV for many years! They also travel all over the world talking about their work – though now prefer for people to visit them so they are not diverted from their main project in Havana by being constantly out of the country. Vilda also told me she had visited Manchester and that she studied for her Masters degree in Aberdeen!

Food dryer out in the sun

Pepe explained that he had originally been a mechanical engineer and that Vilda had been a chemist. Their project Proyecto Communitario Conservacion de Alimentos was founded in 1996 during the special period. He went on to explain that Cuba had a very interesting culinary history – culturally the country had many more influences than most other countries but their food culture has always remained a little weaker in comparison to other Latin American and Carribean countries. Traditionally their diet is an unhealthy one with lots of salt and sugar, and lots of fried food. Pepe and Vilda’s project was founded with an aspiration to help find a more healthy diet in Cuba. It is now a project that works in partnership with many other community food projects, in particular parcelas and patios, to change the Cuban food culture.

Dried herbs and spices at Pepe and Vilda's

The project uses traditional technologies to preserve food, with a basis in permaculture design in the structure of what they are doing. They work directly with local communities and also develop and deliver distance learning programmes on the internet. The three main methods of preservation that they are using are:

• The heat of the sun – sun dried food.
• Vinegar.
• Fermentation.

They also use some processes with sugar, but much less. None of the processes that they use include chemicals. There is no real tradition of using dried herbs in Cuba so much of the ideas that they are presenting are new to local people. However, dried herbs are an easy and cheap way to add flavour to food.

Another area of interest for Pepe and Vilda is the development of Cuban flours. There is no tradition of / climate for growing grains on the island so as a consequence most of the four and grain that is used on the island is imported. They have done a great deal of work developing flour from Yuca, that they feel could be an alternative to the imported flour that Cubans currently rely upon.

In the afternoon we had a lecture on harvest and post harvest food hygiene that was very difficult for me to understand! A lot of very specific language that was unfamiliar to me.

Then for the evening we went to the Old Castle in Havana to see the cannon being let off – a tradition dating back to the Spanish colonization of the country when the cannon used to signify the closing of the harbour gates each night. The castle is beautifully preserved and was well worth a visit. Including the historical pageantry that was put on as part of the event.

Then back to the hotel to start getting ready to move on as Tuesday was my last night at INIFAT.

Day 13 - Monday 21st November - Santiago de las Vegas and Boyeros

Another great day in Cuba – sunny but not too hot. We started the day with a good session on biological control of plagues and insect infestation. The basis of this work from a Cuban perspective is to think of not just managing plagues when they happen, but managing your whole site to prevent them happening in the first place. This is supported by good knowledge of different seeds that are being grown alongside good knowledge of the soil that is being cultivated. It also takes into consideration the work culture that is being implemented – with this being a culture with direct focus upon the preservation and development of biodiversity on every growing site.

Working in the lab at INIFAT

Once again one of the striking things about this was the rudimentary context in which this work was being done – in a laboratory that was outdated and run-down to say the least.

More experiments in the lab

During the lunch break I walked into town with one of my Mexican colleagues as she needed to change some money at the Cadeca but it was closed – “no hay luz” (“there isn’t any light”) due to the fact that some overhead cables were being replaced in the street outside the office. Typical Cuba that this complicated and involved job should be done in the middle of the busiest street in town at the middle of the busiest and hottest part of the day!

After this in the afternoon we had a session on animal husbandry within small scale urban agriculture. It was particularly interesting to hear about the Department of Agriculture striving to get people in cities to keep rabbits as a source of protein within urban agricultural systems. This is because they are easy to keep, can be produced quickly and cleanly adding valuable animal manure to a growing system, and provide a source of healthy meat that is virtually fat free. The problem with this is that there is no culture or eating rabbit meat on the island and people haven’t been keen to give it a try. Good to see that people are fussy eaters all over the planet though!

Rabbits in Urban Agriculture

The highlight of the day however, was a trip to a community cultural centre out in Boyeros, close to INIFAT. We had been invited there by a gentleman called Julio Gómez as there was a concert on to celebrate the centre’s birthday. So after class we got onto the bus and headed over there.

Retired Baseball Players take the stage at Boyeros

The centre itself was an old building in the centre of Boyeros, right on the main street. By the time we arrived the concert had already started so we tried to slip in at the back of the hall, however as soon as Julio saw us coming in he immediately pulled us forward and introduced us to the room to a response of rapturous applause! Then we watched as a group of famous retired baseball players signed the caps of members of Boyeros’ own junior baseball team – who were immaculately turned out in their team colours especially for the event.

I was then taken out onto the balcony by a local journalist who wanted me to do an interview for local radio. After this, to much amusement for my Mexican companeros, I was introduced next to a local artist called Rogelio Fundora Ybarra who was exhibiting his work in the centre. For his day job Rogelio worked as a farmer but he also had a studio by his field where he painted large scale works inspired by rural life.

Example of Rogelio's work

My next introduction was to two local teachers who also run a youth theatre at the centre and are currently developing a cross-generational piece of theatre to be performed in 2012. Ernesto Cancio Lazo and José Enrique Rodriguez passionately told me about the work they were doing with young people – both in the community centre and in the school where they worked which they explained was a specialist school for theatre, dance and the arts. It was interesting to hear about the context they are working in as they felt that they had a great deal of ideological support from the government, but no financial support as there is no money available. Everyone who ran the centre and the projects did so voluntarily in addition to their full-time profession.

This was followed be brief introducions to an urban agriculturalist, a sculptor, and a musician who were all involved with the project. Then Ernesto and José introduced me to a group of young people that they were working with. They were aged 12 to 15 and were just and genial and articulate as most of the Cubans that I had met so far.

The Grand Finale

Interspersed between these conversations were chats with lots of other local people who wanted to know about football and Manchester and the UK. The night ended on a high with a local group playing amazing rumba and some pretty amazing dancing from more of the local community. Absolutely classic. A real taste of life in Cuba.

Day 12 - Sunday 20th November - Varadero

Varadero Beach

The day started very early as we had a big day out to Varadero – one of Cuba’s most popular and well-known beach resorts. The resort is actually a peninsula 30km North of Matanzas that stretches out into the Florida straits with around 25km of pure white sand and gloriously warm, sparkling blue sea. As part of our visit INIFAT had bought each of us a day pass for one of the hotels in the resort. The hotel we were going to was an all inclusive place with a pool and access to the beach – my idea of hell to be honest. Firstly because my impression of this kind of resort was that it would be full of horrible British tourists whom I had come to Cuba to get away from. And secondly because, on the whole, this type of place brings out the worst of everybody’s desire to consume as much as they possibly can. Both in terms of the food and drink that are on offer but also in terms of the trinkets and souvenirs that are generally on sale all over the place.

Hotel at Varadro - A typical view of Cuba for tourists

In the context of Varadero it was interesting to think about the group of Mexicans who I was staying with at INIFAT. Obviously, Mexico is a poor and developing country but this group really liked to consume and buy things. As soon as there was a hint of anything being on offer they all wanted to know how much it cost, what it was, where it had come from… the list went on and on… They also had an insatiable appetite to know where I had bought things from in the UK and how much they cost – especially clothes. Of course, this was nothing unusual in this specifically and it is actually an attribute that is repeated over and over again throughout the consumerist capitalist world. I did find this behaviour interesting though in the context that all of this group were working as organic (or aspiring to be organic) food producers. Obviously this didn’t mean they would be different in their aspirations from anyone else in the world but it is interesting to think about the context in which they are producing food.

The beauty of nature at Varadero

In the same way that ecosystems exist within nature, food producers are not working within a vacuum. The work that they are doing is taking place within a wider cultural and social context that producers need to be aware of and respectful of. If organic food is produced in an entirely industrial, consumerist sentiment with no attention paid to the ethical, environmental ad social function it serves it is only one step away from the chemical soaked product that it has replaced.

Day 11 - Saturday 19th November 2011, INIFAT

Another great Cuban day. Hot again but with a wind that made the heat much easier to deal with. The day started at INIFAT with a great session on saving seed from Maria Benitez. The session was particularly good as the majority of the practice I was learning about was transferable directly to the UK. Hurrah!

María began her seminar with the statement:

“La semilla es el principio y el fin.” – “The seed is the beginning and the end.”

Seeds - the beginning and the end

She carried on with the fact that vegetables grown from seed represent one of the most important food sources in the world. With a seed being defined as a concentration of life and a method of reproduction, multiplication and diversification of species, that conserve genetic information and maintain species and varieties for the future.

We discussed the way that if you control seed supplies you are able to also control a great deal of global agricultural practice – which is what has been done by companies like Monsanto and other large multi-nationals. It is for this reason that INIFAT have done a lot of work around seeds as if people are able to control their own seed supply and production they are also able to take a much more meaningful supply of their own food chains. They have also done a great deal of work developing seed stock that is specifically suited to tropical conditions, whilst also paying respect to the work of local campesinos who have played a crucial part in the maintenance of local species that are essential to long term food security.

Cuban National Seed Lab

The final part of the seminar was a visit to the seed lab within the main INIFAT building that is a national resource in the development of seed stocks in Cuba. This visit was fascinating on a number of levels. Firstly it was amazing to see how dilapidated the INIFAT building was. The building itself was a beautiful colonial structure that was originally a hospital and that was built around a central courtyard that is now full of palm trees. As María pointed out, the building was now almost impossible for them to maintain as they do not have access to the necessary financial or physical resources that would be necessary to do so.

The seed lab itself was something quite amazing. Obviously it was a functional lab, with world-class work being developed there, but the room itself looked like it could have been lifted straight out of the 1950s. And that is a predicament that is kind of reflective of lots of aspects of contemporary Cuban life. Beautiful 1950s furniture is held together by Cuban care and inventiveness, hard work and good fortune. Furniture that would have been discarded in any other part of the world and replaced with something newer, that would now not have the historical value that many of these 50s pieces would have in any other part of the world.

Take the Cuban National Seedbank that is also hosted at INIFAT and that is another great example of the Cuban determination to get things done despite the challenges that they face. Typical to seed banks anywhere in the world this is a temperature controlled facility. In Cuba this means refrigeration in order to maintain a temperature between 2*C and 5*C – in reality this means a big walk in fridge like you’d get in the storage area of a supermarket. Obviously electric is essential to do this, but the supply at INIFAT is not reliable enough to maintain a consistent and guaranteed supply. The rise in temperature that a loss of electricity would cause would be disasterous for the seed collection so, in order to minimize the risk of this happening, the facility is joined to the electricity supply at the international airport 3km away. There may be days when INIFAT and Santiago de las Vegas will have no power but it would have to be a pretty dire situation for the airport to have none.

And on the subject of energy, once again talk returned to the theme of the Special Period and how much it had changed the life for people in Cuba. Now life was so much more difficult for many people as a direct result of the changes that had taken place as a result of this period in history. The unreliable and fluctuating energy supply was a perfect example of these changes. Frustratingly Cuba would be an ideal country for all sorts of solar energy but lack of resource internally and support internationally make any kind of investment in this kind of development virtually impossible.

After the seminar a group of us went to visit the house of María to have a look around her beautiful roof garden. Like Marisol, María lived very close to INIFAT but her 1950s, Florida style flat in a gorgeous two storey buliding was a very different experience to the flat that Marisol and her family were living in on the outskirts of town. To get into María’s house, which she shared with her father, eldest son and daughter-in-law you climbed graceful stairs to a plant filled, first floor terrace. From there you went through the front door into an airy and spacious flat. The space was snug for the number of adults living there, and would certainly be very tight if María’s son decided to have children, but it was well designed and well maintained and certainly looked like a pleasant enough place to live.

To get to María’s roof garden we had to got out to a further terrace where there was an outdoor sink and area for washing and drying clothes, and cooking that was typical in Cuban houses. From there we took fairly death defying steps, that would have been thoroughly unsuitable to anyone with vertigo, up onto the  beautiful roof terrace.

Gorgeous and productive roof garden

On the flat roof of the building María had used scaffolding poles to build a surrounding structure which is covered by netting to stop birds getting at the plants and to take some of the strength out of the rays of the sun. She had even covered the central area with sheets of cardboard to ensure that the table and chairs up there were suitably shaded from the heat of the day. In this relatively small space María had an aviary for birds, a number of cages for to keep rabbits for meat and animal manure and beds and beds of plants including edibles like lettuce and cabbage and a whole variety of ornamentals. Alongside this there was an area to collect water and to make compost. María also explained that the only time she had to move things off the roof was when there was a possibility of hurricanes – then every single thing apart from the heavy metal frame was dismantled and moved to the safety of the downstairs terrace. The garden had survived more than a couple of hurricanes so this was clearly a system that worked. It was a gorgeous little garden so it was no penance to have time to sit up there, relax and enjoy the space.

As we sat up there the group started talking about our planned trip to Varadero the next day – in case you don’t know Varadero is one of the most famous beach resorts in Cuba and is the place that many visitors experience when they spend time on the island. When María was asked if she had ever been to the resort she said yes, but only with a group of visitors to INIFAT as part of her job and never with her family. She explained that the problem for Cubans with this and many other things is transport, which is either very expensive or non-existent. Our group would, of course, travel to the beach in a fancy air-conditioned coach but this was not the type of experience afforded to the average Cuban who would have to attempt to get at least three different buses in order to travel from Santiago de las Vegas to Vardero up on the Northern coast and well over 100km from INIFAT.

Then conversation moved to Tropicana that is in Havana and is thought to be one of the oldest night clubs in the world. Kind of like a Latin American Moulin Rouge. Some of the group really wanted to visit and started asking María questions about this and if she had ever been there. However, a single entry to Tropicana cost around 70CUC – three months wages for an average Cuba. Unsurprisingly, on this basis, most Cubans, including María, had never been there. Another example of the division of access between Cubans and foreign visitors.

After about an hour on the rook we went down to the living room where we learned that it was María’s birthday. She shared an amazing birthday cake with us – the type of big cream cake I had often seen people carrying through the street – and soft drinks. Refrescos as Cubans call them. Then it was time to say goodbye to María and head back to INIFAT for our evening meal.

Unusually that evening there was also a party in our hotel for one of the departments from INIFAT who had just won an award for their work. This meant lots of salsa and a taste of what Cuban nightlife really looks like – not the kind of experience that you got in the fancy bars in clubs in Havana and other tourist resorts, that’s for sure.

Day 10 - Friday 18th November 2011 - INIFAT, Santiago de las Vegas

The day started slightly cooler and with less humidity which was a refreshing change. However, this didn’t stop the mosquitoes and ants biting like crazy which was really annoying and meant that my legs and feet in particular were an absolute mess. Horrible!

Collecting water on an organopónico

The first seminar of the day was a session on water management. Although a lot of what was talked about in the session was not directly transferable to the UK it was fascinating to hear the different ways that Cubans make use of water in their urban growing settings.

Cuba is not like the UK with lots and lots of rain so the food producers have got the use of water in growing down to an absolute science – not a drop of it can be wasted. It is especially important to point out that growers are not allowed to take any water from the domestic water system so every bit of water that is used on each site has to be collected during the rainy season and carefully conserved throughout the dry season. In addition to this in all urban agriculture settings careful consideration is made regarding the level of humidity within the soil. In each setting soil is analysed to work out what capacity it has to absorb and retain water. Particular consideration is made of this in relation to the potential limit of productive capacity that each soil also has.

Pumping water Cuban style

In terms of watering plants, detailed information has been drawn together to consider the exact amount of water that is needed to cultivate each different plant and this is carefully considered when deciding how much irrigation is necessary on each different site.

After eating lunch we had a brilliant session looking at the theories and methodologies of creating designs based upon, and in respect of naturally occurring systems.

Poly-cultures that reflect natural systems

In order to do this there are a number of different things that need to be considered within the design:

• The management of soil, water and other resources.
• That management happens as close to production as possible.
• That full consideration needs to be made of the aspect of each site in order to make best use of each different site.
• Recognition of the potential benefits that sustainable management may offer within an economic context.
• Where ever possible you should conserve the structure and function of naturally occurring ecosystems.
• You can only manage things within your own limits.
• You can only every use management techniques that are appropriate within your own context.
• It is essential to recognize the variability in scale and effect that may characterize any natural process.
• Recognise the inevitability of change.
• Find a balance between the conservation and use of biological diversity.
• Make use of all the different information that is available to you in order to conserve your own eco-system.
• The focus of your work should take into consideration all parts of local society as well as all the different scientific aspects of cultivation.

Day 9 - Thursday 17th November, INIFAT and Alamar

Welcome to Alamar
This was a big exciting day as we were taking a trip to visit a working organopónico! This meant an earlier start than normal as we were driving out to Organopónico Alamar which is one of the largest and most famous organopónicos in Cuba. The site itself is situated in Alamar which is a small town on the Eastern outskirts of Havana with 27,000 inhabitants in the immediate community and 50,000 more in the outlying areas.

Different growing spaces in the heart of the community

The organopónico was founded as a co-operative by four local men in 1997 and now extends to around 10 acres in total. Our visit began with one of the founders giving us an introduction to the history of the site before handing over to one of the growers, who was also a qualified agroecological engineer, to show us around. I do not know if it was a coincidence of all the people I had happened to meet, but once again both men spoke in absolute pride and positivity about their country and their community. A direct contrast to the impressions given by the British and American press that most Cubans are tired of Fidel and the socialist regime.  It was also fascinating to hear their take upon co-operatives and how they function in reality in Cuba.

After our introduction we were taken on a tour of the whole site, which can be described as nothing less than exceptional. Here’s an outline of what we saw:

• A semi-protected cultivation house where plug plants are brought on before being moved outside.
• A processing plant for making natural fertilizers and insecticides as well as breeding natural predators like ladybirds.
• Literally acres and acres of beautifully cultivated land made up of a variety of raised beds and beds cultivating the soil directly.
• Semi-protected cultivation houses for growing crops like cucumbers.
• A huge area for making compost and substrates, including worm compost.
• A preservation room teaching and practicing the preservation of fresh produce.
• A large nursery and shop selling ornamental plants.
• A punto de venta where local people could buy freshly grown produce at low, low prices.

Alamar Punto de Venta

The whole place was an absolute revelation – especially when you look around the borders of the site, see the surrounding flats and are reminded that it is right in the middle of an urban neighbourhood. That really is placing food at the heart of a community!

Breeding ladybirds and other useful bugs

After our visit to Alamar we headed back to INIFAT for a session on bio-fertilisers and bio-insecticides. This is one aspect of Cuban urban agricultural practice that I do struggle with. It is a subject that Cuba has done a great deal of research about alongside genetic engineering, although the research into genetic engineering appears to have dropped off a great deal in recent years. Their interests in the subject appear to be twofold. Firstly they have a genuine belief that these methodologies will play an important part in the future of agriculture on the island. The second motivation is that they need access to the hard currency that they can get when they sell the products that they have created overseas. I have to admit this is the first seminar I took part in where I had significant qualms or questions about any of the work that the Cubans are doing. Although all of these products originate from a natural source I do have to question the long term-validity of their semi-industrial production. I also feel there is a lack of research into the long-term impact of releasing this type of product into the natural environment. In my opinion I am much more convinced by an organic system that does not make use of this kind of industrially produced product.

New this season - taking over extra land at Alamar

Day 8 - Wednesday 16th November 2011, INIFAT Santiago de las Vegas

If I rated my days in Cuba on the basis of how much Spanish I spoke and how much I understood then this was a very good day!

Beautifully constructed organopónico at Alamar, outside Havana

We started the day with another session from Daniel, this time focusing on the construction of sustainable food growing sites. It was interesting to learn the level of knowledge that the Cubans have in constructing these things. For example, the average hectare of organopónicos ,which are growing sites using raised beds because the soil isn’t so good, includes 122 beds which are all 120cm wide, 20 – 30cm deep, no longer than 30m in length and 30cm in depth. It was also clear that there are definite benefits from growing in this way, which are also true of huertas intensivas which are the same as organopónicos but without raised beds because the soil is sufficiently fertile to cultivate:

• They allow for sustainable intensive production.
• They can include a wide variety of cultivars.
• They make use of unproductive land and vacant urban areas.
• Their systems can be adapted to different contexts.
• They only need a low initial investment to set them up.
• They offer accessible employment within local communities.

During lunch some of the group wanted to visit the Tienda Agropecuario in Santiago to learn more about the support that this resource gave to local food producers. As I was the only person in the group who knew where it was I took everyone up there, followed by a trip to the two little parcelas I knew in Santiago to look at them as well. It was nice to be out in town with the group but it was also frustrating because we are so conspicuous when we are all out together. There was something very nice about when I was at INIFAT on my own because it meant I could go about my business in town without immediately drawing attention to myself. Now, in this big group, it was very different. Illustrated by the fact that this trip into town was the first time that I had experienced any begging in Cuba, with a small boy begging from money because he knew the group were from Mexico and probably thought they would have money that they could give him. Very sad.

Advice for growers in the Tienda Agropecuario in Santiago de las Vegas

The afternoon at INIFAT was another practical session with Daniel looking specifically at Vermiculture, or worm compost, which is the backbone of urban agriculture in Cuba. However, as the class went on Daniel began to give his own perspective on the Cuban political system, which was fascinating. He revealed that he earns 23 CUC per month, which translates to about £14. Even with access to the NP economy, food rationing and state subsidy of many things this is a punishingly low wage to survive on. However, Daniel’s opinion was that he has everything that he could ask for in Cuba in terms of health, education, community…etc… so why should he want anything else or ask for anything more? Once again reinforcing the strong commitment that many Cuban’s have to their own country and community.

More Cuban vermiculture - this time at Alamar

Then it was on to the evening with more food – they feed us constantly here. There was also more opportunity to talk and hear Spanish. The next day there was a trip planned to Alamar, one of the most famous urban agriculture sites in Cuba. We also all felt ready for the trip out as it was getting quite intense for the whole group to be together at the ministry every day!

And that’s it. There I was at the end of my first week in Cuba and it felt just as great as I had thought and hoped it might feel. I like Cubans, who are on the whole generous, kind and intelligent. I also like Mexicans too though many of them are much more tied up in Western preoccupations than I had imagined they may be. I would also have imagined them to have more sensitivity to the Cuban situation than some of them did making the lack of understanding from some members of the group a big surprise.

In my first week I also discovered:

• There are lots of ways of eating eggs. Even as an accompaniment to bananas.
• Dual currencies are desperately confusing for everyone involved.
• Cuban mosquitoes love Mancunian skin.
• Sun makes you feel good – especially when the weather is hot.

Mosquitos prompt extreme fashion responses