Cooperatives in Cuba

Irish Community Growers Trip 2016

Sustainable technology is difficult without sustainable economic and social structures. The transition to sustainable techniques has also been easier for Cuban farmers than for those in other countries because of the security bestowed by the Cuban government: land rights, access to and ownership of equipment, availability of credit, markets, insurance and free health care and education.

Cuban farmers are highly organized through the formation of cooperatives with real social and economic power, and the presence of national organizations that can represent the interests of individual farmers at the state level.…

Property rights include not only land, but also the materials necessary for production, such as farming implements, ploughs, housing and other buildings as well as ownership over the harvest itself.

Mavis Álvarez, founding member of ANAP (2001)

Cooperatives and Food Security: Cuban cooperatives have been key in supporting Cuba’s transition from a monoculture system to sustainable, organic agriculture in less than a decade. Victims of a punishing blockade and the collapse of the Soviet Union, cooperatives have remained front and centre in Cuba’s food security strategy since the Triumph of the Revolution.

Fifty-six years later, building on this strength, Cuba’s socialist government is taking innovative steps to further strengthen farmer cooperatives and develop second-tier cooperatives.

Under the Batista-Lansky administration, Havana was ripe for foreign investment, especially for the glut of illegal earnings that Lansky and his cronies had accumulated from bootlegging, numbers and other rackets.

The climate was so attractive that Lansky decided to build his own hotel, the Riviera, on the Malecón, Havana's wide boulevard along the seawall. In 1957 it rose over the horizon like a beacon, advertising the city as a refuge from the law.

The Batista legacy of powerful latifundios and illiterate farmers put agrarian reform squarely on the agenda of Fidel’s new government. By hiding and feeding Cuban revolutionaries, farmers had been key strategic partners in the underground movement leading up to the Triumph of the Revolution in 1959. In the new government, built upon the socialist ideals of Jose Marti, it was no surprise that agrarian reform and literacy topped the priority list.

In the early 1970s,responding to the need to help small farmers become more efficient through shared infrastructure, training, education and support, ANAP encouraged the growth of collective farm cooperatives. To reduce transportation costs, new coops were encouraged to locate close to population centres. Where necessary, this involved ANAP-facilitated land swaps.

Two different types of private farmer cooperatives were created:

Credit and Service Cooperatives (CCSs) are basically producer cooperatives. Members retain individual title (or usufruct rights) to their land but cooperate on things such as transportation, farm market sales, sharing of equipment, access to government credit and services and shared infrastructure (e.g. value added facilities). The General Assembly of members, which meets monthly, approves the inclusion of new members as required to meet the needs of the cooperative.

Agricultural Production Cooperatives (CPAs) are more similar to worker cooperatives. Members pool their land, receiving payment when they join their lands, and work it collectively. As with CPAs, the General Assembly approves the inclusion of new members to meet coop needs.

The collapse of the former Soviet Union, Cuba’s major trading partner, was the catalyst in Cuba’s remarkable transformation from large-scale monoculture to sustainable farming practices. The loss of 70% of Cuba’s food supply and virtually all agricultural inputs (tractors, tractor parts, petroleum, machinery, pesticides, fertilizers, seed, feed grains) meant Cuba had to quickly find new ways to produce food for her people.

With crisis as the driver and necessity the mother of invention, Cuba embarked on a remarkable journey.

Large state farms were divided up into a third type of cooperative – a UBPC (Unidad Básica de Producción Cooperativa or Basic Unit of Cooperative Production) – and workers were given usufruct tenure to the land, the opportunity to purchase the means of production and to organize cooperatively.

Uncultivated urban areas were turned into urban organopónicos (cooperatives, organized as UBPCs).

In the countryside, retired farmers were called back to teach younger ones how to plough with oxen, and rustic micro-labs for the production of cutting-edge biological controls (CREEs) were scattered across the countryside to bring farm extension and solutions to local farmers, in their fields.

Cuba had five very important things that made this transformation from high-input monoculture to global leadership in sustainable and organic agriculture possible:

1. A food production system based on farmer cooperatives: This made it much easier for farmers to work together quickly and effectively to transform production methods in their own (and the community’s) interest.

2. Scientific capacity: Beginning in the 70s and 80s, Cuban scientists started looking for alternatives to high input agriculture to make Cuba’s farm sector more economically and environmentally sustainable. As a result, Cuba had the scientific knowledge and technical capacity to develop the bio-pesticides and bio-fertilizers needed to produce food in the Special Period.

3. Smart and capable farmers and a strong farm voice: Supported by a national farmers organization (ANAP) that put an emphasis on skills and knowledge, Cuba’s literate farmers were well supported in their adoption of new methodologies.

4. A solid system of agricultural extension: Critically important was the full support of Cuba’s Ministry of Agriculture and related networks from the university and scientific community to support the training needed to farm more sustainably.

5. Excellent soils, water and climate.

Today, reversing completely the coop-to-state ratio of the 1980s, over 80% of Cuba’s farm production is cooperative (CPAs, CCSs and UBPCs).

Beginning in 2008, the Cuban Government instituted a new policy of land distribution to boost food security (Decreto Ley 259 and 300). By the fall of 2011, 1.3 million hectares of land had been distributed in usufruct to 146 816 new farmers (97% of applicants), 80% of which was already in production.

With 4 540 new farmers approved and “in process,” a total of 151 356 new farmers were inducted.

The average size of land allocated to each new farmer under this program has been 8.7 hectares. One third of these new farmers are 18–35 years old, 25% of whom were previously unemployed; and 13 percent retired.

The way land continues to be assigned under this program provides new farmers with support to ensure their success.

Once a farmer is approved, the provincial soil lab in the applicant's province looks for suitable land with a good soil profile. The agricultural extension specialists from the soil lab meet with the new farmer to explain the soil capability and crop suitability of the land s/he is receiving and provide two years of direct support to make them successful.

All new farmers must be accepted by an area CCS (Credit and Service Cooperative) to provide them with further incubator support. This is also a way of screening new land applicants – acceptance by a local farmers' cooperative is a solid indicator of character and capacity.

Today, ANAP has 396 526 members organized into 3 485 farmer cooperatives. They farm a total of 2 894 405 hectares, 39% of Cuba’s arable farmland, and produce over 60% of domestic food production (ANAP, 2013).

Of these, 2 489 are Credit and Service Cooperatives (CCSs) representing 348 080 members who farm 2 306 526 hectares of land (930,455 of which are owned, 1 302 033 farmed in usufruct, 14 768 leased and 59 269 owned collectively).

There are also 996 Agricultural Production Cooperatives (CPAs) representing a total of 48 446 members who collectively farm 587 878 hectares of land, 535 033 of which are owned and 52 845 farmed in usufruct tenure.

In addition to the private farmers organized under ANAP, there are also 1 989 UBPCs (organized under the Ministry of Agriculture) representing 121 481 members.

Organic fertilization and soil conservation.

The use of manure, sugar cane byproducts (cachaza), organic fertilizers, compost, bioearth, worm humus, residues from sugarcane (biomass), waste water, cover crops, mulch, biofertilizers and other materials produce higher yields and improve soil cover, dry matter content, and soil properties

Ecological management of pests, disease and weeds.

The research into bio-pesticides developed by the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture’s National Plant Protection Institute (INISAV) is made available to farmers through the creation of a national network of 280 Centres for Production of Entomophages & Entomopathogens (CREEs) to manufacture and distribute biocontrol agents suited to local crops and conditions. CREEs are positioned according to local needs and have work teams comprised of university-educated specialists, lab technicians and auxiliary staff. The products are sold directly to area farmers, reducing transport and storage needs. Production is highly diversified and specialized by region.

Livestock Management.

Successful use of legume-based livestock systems, silvo-pasture and integrated crop-livestock systems have resulted in significant and sustainable increases in dietary protein. Bio-controls to treat mites and other insect pests.

Crop Management.

Crop rotations reduce soil pathogens. Crop associations and intercropping keep pest populations low and reduce disease and weeds; common are corn-bean and cassava-bean associations but more complex planting such as corn-squash-sweet potato-beans-cucumbers are also common. Integrated pest management programs are in place for 27 crops, controlling a total of 74 insect and mite pests and several fungal diseases.

Ecological Soil Management.

Organic techniques such as the use of living barriers, ground cover with locally adapted pasture species, contour plowing and conservation tillage systems are used to manage, conserve and recover compacted, salinized, eroded and otherwise degraded soils.

Urban Agriculture.

In the early 1990’s, in response to food and petroleum shortages, Cuba made a major commitment to the production of food in cities, or urban agriculture. Today, Organoponicos (raised bed organic vegetable production), intensive vegetable gardens, backyard and roof gardens, small (2-15 hectare) suburban farms and the self-consumption gardens of large enterprises, institutions and government offices together contribute an estimated 90 percent of the fresh produce consumed in Havana.

Green Medicines.

Organized production of medicinal plants began in Cuba in 1992. Today, there are 13 provincial farms and 136 municipal farms producing organic green medicines on 700 hectares of land. Cuba’s current annual production of medicinal plants and of herbs and plants used for dyes is 1,000 tons and growing.