ABSTRACT

Cuba has a long tradition as an exporter of agricultural crops produced under conditions of monoculture and natural resource extraction (Le Riverend, 1970; Moreno Fraginals, 1978; Marrero, 1974-1984). Practiced over approximately four centuries, these agricultural patterns have generated a dependence on imported inputs and caused an enormous negative environmental impact on soils, biodiversity, and forest cover (CITMA, 1997; Funes-Monzote, 2004). During the last 15 years, however, agricultural development has been reoriented (Rosset and Benjamin, 1994; Funes et al., 2002; Wright, 2005). Today, agricultural production in Cuba is concerned, as never before, with food self-sufciency and environmental protection. In 1994, the National Programme for Environment and Development (the Cuban adoption of the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development’s Agenda 21) was instituted, and two years later the National Environmental Strategy was approved (CITMA, 1997; Urquiza and Gutiérrez, 2003). In 1997 the Cuban law of environment became the environmental protection policy of the state (Gaceta Oficial, 1997). Although environmental protection is still not practiced as fully as it might be, government support for preserving the environment has helped put Cuban agriculture on a more sustainable course.