Urban Gardens
Just about the time my inner curmudgeon threatens to take over permanently, I hear about some human endeavor which is so ingenious that I regain some hope for humanity. This past weekend it was an AP article describing a movement in Cuba to provide fresh vegetables to the urban poor.
For Miladis Bouza, the global food crisis arrived two decades ago. Now, her efforts to climb out of it could serve as a model for people around the world struggling to feed their families.
Bouza was a research biologist, living a solidly middle-class existence, when the collapse of the Soviet Union - and the halt of its subsidized food shipments to Cuba - effectively cut her government salary to $3 a month. Suddenly, a trip to the grocery store was out of reach.
So she quit her job, and under a program championed by then-Defense Minister Raul Castro, asked the government for the right to farm an overgrown, half-acre lot near her Havana home. Now, her husband tends rows of tomatoes, sweet potatoes and spinach, while Bouza, 48, sells the produce at a stall on a busy street.
Neighbors are happy with cheap vegetables fresh from the field. Bouza never lacks for fresh produce, and she pulls in between $100 to $250 a month - many times the average government salary of $19.
Ms. Bouza's efforts were duplicated throughout the small island, and quite successfully so:
Cuba's urban farming program has been a stunning, and surprising, success. The farms, many of them on tiny plots like Bouza's, now supply much of Cuba's vegetables. They also provide 350,000 jobs nationwide with relatively high pay and have transformed eating habits in a nation accustomed to a less-than-ideal diet of rice and beans and canned goods from Eastern Europe. ...
"It's a really interesting model looking at what's possible in a nation that's 80 percent urban," said Catherine Murphy, a California sociologist who spent a decade studying farms in Havana. "It shows that cities can produce huge amounts of their own food, and you get all kinds of social and ecological benefits."
Because fertilizer and pesticides are too expensive, even when available, these urban farmers have been composting and using natural methods to control pests, thereby not poisoning the soil that is farmed intensively. They sell to their neighbors, which means they don't have to truck the produce to market. And they get to keep the profits, raising their earnings accordingly.
Of course, as the article points out, such a system might not work out too well in a competitive capitalist environment, especially one with shorter growing seasons, but it certainly could take the edge off the hunger for many, even if only on a short term basis.
Los Angeles had a mini-version of the system in place not too long ago. The people of "South Central" had access to an unused parcel of land the city owned. The land was put to use as a community garden which operated in much the same way the AP article described, with the same effect. Unfortunately, when a budget crunch hit and a developer offered to buy the land, the community garden lost out.
Still, the idea is a good one. Perhaps cities should consider including the idea in future development plans, requiring builders to set aside plots for community gardening, especially when the developments involve huge apartment towers. It could very well be a nice adjunct to the Farmer's Markets which have taken hold in Southern California.
Hey, it could happen.
For Miladis Bouza, the global food crisis arrived two decades ago. Now, her efforts to climb out of it could serve as a model for people around the world struggling to feed their families.
Bouza was a research biologist, living a solidly middle-class existence, when the collapse of the Soviet Union - and the halt of its subsidized food shipments to Cuba - effectively cut her government salary to $3 a month. Suddenly, a trip to the grocery store was out of reach.
So she quit her job, and under a program championed by then-Defense Minister Raul Castro, asked the government for the right to farm an overgrown, half-acre lot near her Havana home. Now, her husband tends rows of tomatoes, sweet potatoes and spinach, while Bouza, 48, sells the produce at a stall on a busy street.
Neighbors are happy with cheap vegetables fresh from the field. Bouza never lacks for fresh produce, and she pulls in between $100 to $250 a month - many times the average government salary of $19.
Ms. Bouza's efforts were duplicated throughout the small island, and quite successfully so:
Cuba's urban farming program has been a stunning, and surprising, success. The farms, many of them on tiny plots like Bouza's, now supply much of Cuba's vegetables. They also provide 350,000 jobs nationwide with relatively high pay and have transformed eating habits in a nation accustomed to a less-than-ideal diet of rice and beans and canned goods from Eastern Europe. ...
"It's a really interesting model looking at what's possible in a nation that's 80 percent urban," said Catherine Murphy, a California sociologist who spent a decade studying farms in Havana. "It shows that cities can produce huge amounts of their own food, and you get all kinds of social and ecological benefits."
Because fertilizer and pesticides are too expensive, even when available, these urban farmers have been composting and using natural methods to control pests, thereby not poisoning the soil that is farmed intensively. They sell to their neighbors, which means they don't have to truck the produce to market. And they get to keep the profits, raising their earnings accordingly.
Of course, as the article points out, such a system might not work out too well in a competitive capitalist environment, especially one with shorter growing seasons, but it certainly could take the edge off the hunger for many, even if only on a short term basis.
Los Angeles had a mini-version of the system in place not too long ago. The people of "South Central" had access to an unused parcel of land the city owned. The land was put to use as a community garden which operated in much the same way the AP article described, with the same effect. Unfortunately, when a budget crunch hit and a developer offered to buy the land, the community garden lost out.
Still, the idea is a good one. Perhaps cities should consider including the idea in future development plans, requiring builders to set aside plots for community gardening, especially when the developments involve huge apartment towers. It could very well be a nice adjunct to the Farmer's Markets which have taken hold in Southern California.
Hey, it could happen.
Labels: Hunger
posted by Diane at 3:58 AM
1 Comments:
boston's fenway neighborhood is home to the oldest continuously-used victory gardens in the united states, in constant use since ww2.
i had a plot there (30x60 feet) for 14 years. when i moved away in 2001 i knew people who had plots for 30 years. the great thing is it's over 7 acres so there are also plenty of plots which turn over every year.
unfortunately, getting excess fruits and vegetables to those in need was difficult and mostly not even attempted. the founding documents prohibit sale of any produce from the gardens.
but for individuals who are willing to put in not-too-onerous but regular effort it can be quite a bonanza.
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