10% off all books and free delivery over £40
Buy from our bookstore and 25% of the cover price will be given to a school of your choice to buy more books. *15% of eBooks.

Sustainable Urban Agriculture in Cuba

View All Editions (3)

The selected edition of this book is not available to buy right now.
Add To Wishlist
Write A Review

About

Sustainable Urban Agriculture in Cuba Synopsis

As large-scale industrial agriculture comes under increasing scrutiny because of its petroleum- and petrochemical-based input costs and environmentally objectionable consequences, increasing attention has been focused on sustainable, local, and agro-ecological techniques in food production. Cuba was forced by historical circumstances to be one of the pioneers in the massive application of these techniques.

After the demise of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Cuba was left without access to external support needed to carry on with industrial agriculture. The economic crisis led the country to reconsider their former models of resource management. Cuba retooled its agricultural programs to focus on urban agriculture-sustainable, ecologically sound farming close to densely populated areas. Food now takes far less time to get to the people, who are now better nourished because they have easier access to whole foods. Moreover, urban farming has become a source of national pride-Cuba has one of the best urban agriculture programs in the world, with a thousand-fold increase in urban agricultural output since 1994.

Sinan Koont has spent the last several years researching urban agriculture in Cuba, including field work at many sustainable farms on the island. He tells the story of why and how Cuba was able to turn to urban food production on a large scale with minimal use of chemicals, petroleum, and machinery, and of the successes it achieved-along with the continuing difficulties it still faces in reducing its need for food imports.

About This Edition

ISBN: 9780813054032
Publication date:
Author: Sinan Koont
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Format: Paperback
Pagination: 254 pages
Series: Contemporary Cuba
Genres: Cultural studies: food and society
Sociology: work and labour
Urban and municipal planning and policy
Sustainable agriculture