Growing Diversity - Latin America
TITLE OF EXPERIENCE: Integrated agriculture-livestock farms, based on agroecology to grow biodiversity
AUTHOR: Collective of Authors, National Pasture and Forage Research Institute (IIPF): Marta Monzote, Ferando Funes-Monzote, Jorge Pereda, Hector Luis Martínez, Emigdio Rodríguez, Angel González, Didiel Serrano, Jorge Fernández, Juan J. Suárez, Diego Muñoz; National Small Farmers' Association (ANAP): Humberto Hernández, Roberto Estévez, Amauri Ramos, Osvaldo Cruz, Francisco Espinosa, Alexander Gonzáles.
COUNTRY AND REGION: CUBA, IIPF experimental stations in the Provinces of Havana, Camaguei, Las Tunas and Granma, and on peasants' farms in the Provinces of Sancti Spítus, Camaguey and Las tunas
ECOLOGICAL ZONE: Insular Caribbean
ABSTRACT
In the early 1990s, an economic crisis hit Cuban agriculture, which suddenly lost access to inputs such as agrochemicals, machinery, fuel and other resources on which it had depended to sustain its industrial-intensive model. All this was due to the intensification of the US economic blockade against the country and the fall of the socialist countries in Eastern Europe after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, on which Cuba depended for 84% of its trade.
Livestock was the most hard hit of agricultural sectors due to the high degree of specialization and its dependence on outside resources, which revealed the fragility of the model.
In this situation, peasants in the National Small Farmers' Association (ANAP) and professionals from the Pasture and Forage Research Institute (IIPF) united their efforts to show that the integration of livestock with farm crops, trees and other animal species, using organic methods, could be an alternative to overcome the economic difficulties. To this end, the peasants' experiences and their results were documented through indicators of sustainability of agricultural development, which has helped in the training of peasants who can promote exchanges with each other and with the researchers.
CONTACT: Click here for updated contact details
Instituto de Investigaciones Nacional de Pastos y Forrajes (IIPF), Carretera 43, km ½ Cangrejeras, Bauta, la Habana, CUBA, Tel/Fax: (53-7) 299855 , E-mail: iipf@ceniai.inf.cu