Farmers’ Markets

In the Camilo Cienfuegos Popular Council Zone there is only one farmers’ market, located in the north of the neighbourhood in a section very near to the coast. This location makes access difficult for a large part of the area’s consumers. A significant number of people who visit it do so as a secondary activity, after having gone to the bakery or manufactured gas outlets nearby.

Interviews conducted with market workers, consumers, urban agriculture producers and other key people demonstrate the following:

• Camilo Cienfuegos is a residential community with very few workplaces. Most working people commute to other parts of the city. These people generally shop in the areas where they work and only go to the market to buy something they need immediately and/or on weekends to make more important purchases.
• They estimated that during the vacation period (July–August) users and sales would increase. However, that did not happen because people also travel to other places during their vacation.
• Producers, or their representatives (it is organized so that no other intermediaries exist), are not encouraged to sell in this market because the demand is lower than the supply and they do not sell even 50 per cent of the products they bring. On the other hand, the market’s administration charges each producer or his or her representative the corresponding taxes and rents. (See chapter on marketing.)
• Those in charge of the market were asked whether they had considered lowering the 10 per cent vendors are charged to encourage their presence to increase in numbers. They answered that they could go as low as 8 per cent, but it was a problem for them because the market is self-financing and with lower revenues they would barely manage to cover workers’ salaries and other costs, such as the tax they must pay to the National Tax Administration Office (ONAT).
• The market’s revenues and sale of products at better prices on Fridays have increased for some time now. This is because on Fridays a truck
  arrives with agricultural products from the province of Ciego de Ávila, specifically Chambas, in the country’s eastern region.

  On the day the truck arrives there are more shoppers, which is interesting as it demonstrates that the problem is not only that Camilo Cienfuegos is a residential community, but also that the market’s prices are high in relation to consumers’ purchasing power.

The average number of vendors in the farmers’ market is seven. Some 20 per cent of them are farmers from El Paraíso who visit sporadically and the rest are representatives of the three Credit and Services Cooperatives (CCSs) located in Güines and Aguilar (province of Havana) and Guanabacoa (City of Havana).

In the price pattern of products it is observed that prices are the same for all products, regardless of where the vendors come from. This pattern is similar in all of Havana’s farmers’ markets. Evidently, there is an agreement between vendors to set these prices.

The range of products offered varied according to the season. From May to October, grains, fruits, roots and tubers predominate, while between November and April the amount of fruits drops and there are considerably more vegetables.

Farmers generally offer a maximum of three products (fruits and vegetables), while cooperatives always come to the market with at least three different products and as many as six, above all during winter, the peak harvest season for vegetables and plants. The number of products per producer does not mean that the products differ between them.

On considering the total number of different products offered at the same time in this market, it was determined that the average varied between 11 and 17 for the periods mentioned. This variety of crops is the same as that of the city’s most poorly stocked markets.

The sale of meat products merits separate mention. In the market (despite being the only place in the Popular Council where meat is sold ‘uncontrolled’), it is limited to pork from the cooperatives for most of the year. At certain times, other types of meat are sold, such as sheep, but without predictable frequency. Currently the price of 0.5 kg of pork is approximately 12 per cent of the average salary.

On the other hand, in the Alamar neighbourhood in the centre of the municipality of East Havana and located approximately 10 km from Camilo Cienfuegos, mini agricultural fairs are held once a week, and on the last Sunday of every month a large fair is held in which producers from various parts of the country participate. Prices are lower at both fairs than at the

farmers’ market and any other existing sales outlets. Residents of Camilo Cienfuegos attend these fairs, which also lowers the number of shoppers at the farmers’ market.

The research team studied the average number of consumers entering the market, based on information obtained during three Saturdays in alternate weeks between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. This is the busiest time and day at the farmers’ market, according to the administrator and two of the oldest vendors at the market, who declared they had done ‘studies’ on the matter. The pattern is as follows:

Note: Youths: 16 to 25 years. Adults: 26 to 59 years. Older adults: over 60 years.

The results confirm that attendance at the market is poor and only 63 per cent of those who enter make purchases (48 people). Some 81 per cent of those who bought something stated that the high price of products determined their decision. Women constituted 69 per cent of people who entered the market, showing that they are the ones who have greater responsibility for deciding what the family eats and shopping for food. The latter is similar to the situation in the rest of the city.

It is also noted that few youths buy these products and that working-age adults predominate (60.5 per cent). This may be explained by the predominance of extended families in Havana, where adults, particularly women, are responsible for these activities.

It is interesting that older adults making purchases are not the majority, although they spend most of their time in the area. This can be explained by the fact that the studies were conducted on Saturdays, when most of the week’s shopping is done and better physical condition is required to carry the purchases given the market’s distance.

Urban Agriculture

The study on the marketing of forms of urban agriculture in the Camilo Cienfuegos area showed the following pattern.

El Pedregal Intensive-Cultivation Garden

The Intensive-Cultivation Garden includes a sales outlet on the premises where marketing is done. The garden is currently arranging the

commercial license authorizing it to sell, according to the established procedure.

Marketing at El Pedregal began with the vegetables with the highest demand among residents: lettuce, Swiss chard, cabbage and salad tomatoes. Supply of these products has been increasing, owing to the interest of both the population and the garden’s workers. The latter is related to lesser-known products that provide quality and variety to the diet. Two examples are arugula and spinach.

El Pedregal offers, on average, five to 12 products daily, mainly leafy vegetables, herbs and flowers, depending on the season. During winter months it may market as many as 15 products daily. Some 80 per cent of the products marketed are grown in the garden and the rest are purchased from the Greater Havana Fresh Vegetable Company.

The Greater Havana Fresh Vegetable Company (EHM), through the Municipal Urban Farm, sells products such as sweet potato, tomato paste, yucca, black beans, garlic, plantains and others that are not generally grown in the garden to the Basic Unit of Cooperative Production (UBPC). The EHM buys these products from the CCSs, UBPC, field workers and other producers from the city or other provinces. This activity generates income for the EHM and, to a lesser extent, the Intensive-Cultivation Garden, as the profit margin is lower than when it markets its own products.

The EHM charges the Intensive-Cultivation Garden an additional 5 per cent on the cost of the products it sells for purchasing transactions and transportation. In addition, the EHM charges El Pedregal 5 per cent of its total sales revenue. The EHM allocates this 5 per cent as follows: 1 per cent to the Municipal Urban Farm and the remaining 4 per cent to the municipal tax office as a sales tax. As can be seen, the Intensive-Cultivation Garden pays the sales tax through the EHM.

The producers state that because of the EHM’s prices, the low revenue earned from the sale of these products and the taxes they must pay, they would prefer that the EHM not sell them anything. However, they perform these buying and selling transactions for the social benefit it represents.

Yet, although the producers do not say so, selling products from the EHM increases the variety of supply, which attracts consumers even though it does not mean significant direct earnings for the Intensive-Cultivation Garden. In addition, the products from the EHM have a longer shelf life than those produced by the garden, meaning lower risk of losses.

This activity certainly increases the variety of products offered by the Intensive-Cultivation Garden. It has been proven that, on analyzing the daily sales records, the number of buyers increases 10–30 per cent and daily sales totals increase 7–25 per cent when these products are offered.

With regard to price setting, it must be said that before 1998 price records were not kept, although it is known that they were higher than they are now, mainly because of the excess currency in circulation during those years. Since 1998, prices of agricultural products have remained fairly stable, depending on the season.

Currently, the Intensive-Cultivation Garden’s selling prices, as mentioned above, must be lower than the farmers’ market and are set according to ‘experience and taking into account the farmers’ market’s prices’. This way of setting prices means, in practice, that the Intensive-Cultivation Garden’s selling prices, and those of other forms of urban agriculture, are defined by the farmers’ market. There are many conditional factors that influence how much lower the price of a given product will be.

At this time the Intensive-Cultivation Garden’s producers know what they spend on production and that labour represents 12–20 per cent of their costs if advances, incentives and social security are taken into account. However, as no fixed salary exists and incentives depend on the amount of products sold, it is more difficult to establish production costs.

Nevertheless, and aside from being unable to establish real production costs (for example, they do not take into account the cost of water for irrigation), they do not use this information to set prices and they recognize that this is a weakness.

In general, there is greater supply at the Intensive-Cultivation Garden in quantity and variety of leafy vegetables and fresh herbs than at the farmers’ market. This results in the prices of some products being set by the Intensive-Cultivation Garden while prices for products in greater demand, such as cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, etc., vary markedly during the winter season, depending on the farmers’ market’s supply.

The allocation of the Intensive-Cultivation Garden’s production is as follows:

It should be noted that the 7 per cent of production allocated for social benefit free of charge is distributed to:

• A cafeteria in the workplace nearby for the benefit of all of the garden’s workers and producers.
• The cafeterias in the two Technological Institutes located in the area as a contribution to young people’s education.
• The Government Housing Board workers’ cafeteria.
• The Food Processing Centre that supplies the population (mainly herbs).
• A local boy recovering from heart surgery.

El Paraíso Farmers’ Group

Until 1998, the farmers of El Paraíso could sell directly from their plots, but if they did it was in very small quantities and only during peak harvest periods. This is because the principal use of production has always been, from the first years to today, the family’s own consumption.

Assessment of the producer’s behaviour showed that:

• Most have a personal interest in using production for family, neighbours, friends and charity, as well as barter between producers.
• They like producing and dislike being involved in marketing. They do not like others to visit their plots because they see when they are planted, which may have an influence on theft.
• They believe that it is difficult for potential buyers to have access to their plots due to their location.
• It has happened that when, in times of harvest and excess production, a farmer wanted to bring his or her product to consumers, there were legal limitations (fines). They also observed that the product was bought at a low price and resold at a higher one to illegal middlemen, which they opposed.

Current marketing behaviour is as follows:

• Sporadically, one farmer or another markets in his or her area if a prospective buyer arrives, generally acquaintances and people looking for specific products.
• Two of the 53 farmers sell in the Camilo Cienfuegos farmers’ market. They do not sell daily, but rather two or three times a week because the plot does not produce enough for more than that. They also market products for others.
• The Farmers’ Group is arranging a commercial licence to establish a collective sales outlet near the Camilo Cienfuegos shopping centre.
• They have assessed the possibility of establishing a collective stand in the farmers’ market, but decided against it because most producers there are large scale producers (UBPC, field worker CCSs) selling at higher prices who would try to pressure them on the issue.

Dispersed Farmers

There is no precise information regarding the level of marketing they may have, but it is estimated that it must be minimal, sporadic and carried out on the same plot, although access to them is more complicated than those in El Paraíso. They do not have a sales outlet.

Consumers’ Relationship with Existing Marketing Locations for Agricultural Products in the Area

As mentioned above, there are three marketing locations for agricultural products in Camilo Cienfuegos, subject to market mechanisms: El Pedregal (Intensive-Cultivation Garden), the El Paraíso plots and the farmers’ market.

In order to discover the relationship between consumers and the above sales outlets, as well as other aspects derived from this relationship, interviews were scheduled with 300 persons during two days over three weeks. Of the persons interviewed, 285 answered reliably (173 of whom were women, representing 60.7 per cent of the total). The following results were obtained:

People interviewed:

It is evident that most interviewees were not aware that there were three sales outlets for agricultural products. In all cases the place they did not know was that of the El Paraíso farmers. On the other hand, 61 per cent of those that knew it stated that they do not go there to shop because of the distance of the plots and the difficulty in travelling to them.

Of all the interviewees, 58 per cent stated that they make use of their time outside of Camilo Cienfuegos (for work or other reasons) to buy agricultural products or they go to other parts of the city specifically for this reason, which does not mean that they do not occasionally go shopping at any of the other sales outlets.

Despite the prices, no one shops exclusively at El Pedregal or El Paraíso, possibly because products in high demand such as rice or meat are not sold in these places. This means that for the moment competition is not exclusive and complementarity becomes necessary.

Some 89 per cent (253) of the people interviewed stated that the products at the farmers’ market were more expensive or the same price as those sold in other parts of the city. This is one of the reasons why people also go to the El Pedregal Intensive-Cultivation Garden. However, a similar number recognized that the supply and variety of the farmers’ market were better than those of the Intensive-Cultivation Garden or the El Paraíso farmers.

Some 45 per cent of interviewees (145 people), mainly those living to the south and west of the Camilo Cienfuegos shopping centre, stated that they preferred to go to the Intensive-Cultivation Garden because, apart from the lower prices, the farmers’ market was too far away for them. This confirms the observations about its location. Currently there is an attempt to move the farmers’ market to a central location in the neighbourhood.

When products such as potatoes, plantains, citrus fruit and others arrive at the price-controlled outlets, sales of similar products drop to some extent in the area’s other sales outlets. The term ‘similar products’ is used because, for example, potatoes are the only product that is exclusively price-controlled and therefore not for sale in the other commercial spaces. However, they are substituted by products such as sweet potatoes, yuccas and, to a lesser extent, yams, taros and occasionally plantains.

Evidently, in Camilo Cienfuegos there is still great potential for expanding marketing through the farmer’s market and forms of urban

agriculture. Supply is still less than the demand, as demonstrated by the amount of people who leave the area to shop in other places.

On the other hand, apart from competition, a complementarity process could take place regarding the variety of products offered in one or another sales outlet, which would undoubtedly enrich the activity in the area and contribute to improving the quality of life as far as increasing the availability of food and reducing the need to look for it elsewhere. For example, almost 35 per cent of interviewees indicated that they would prefer to buy fruits and vegetables at El Pedregal and starchy root crops and grains at the farmers’ market, even when both items are sold at the same place.

Impact of Agricultural Activity on Producers’ Families

This topic has been approached from different perspectives, with the objective of demonstrating the benefits obtainable from urban agriculture for the families that are involved in it. To obtain information, it was decided that it would be more worthwhile to avoid limiting ourselves to simply interviewing family groups or producers and involve members of the research team, producers and their families in a participatory analytical process. This was aimed at gathering evidence on results observed in relation to family income, time spent on agricultural activity, the ways in which family members participate and the contributions to the family food hamper. The results obtained are summarized below.

The average salary in the city of Havana is 217.00 Cuban pesos per month (for 1997), whereas, on average, each worker at El Pedregal Intensive-Cultivation Garden earns three to four times that figure in the same period. This same worker also is able to enjoy, free of charge, up to 30.00 Cuban pesos’ worth of produce each month from the Intensive-Cultivation Garden (15.00 Cuban pesos’ worth each two-week pay period), which raises the family’s relative income even more, thanks to this saving.

It must be pointed out that the money that each garden worker receives monthly is not considered a salary but rather an ‘advance’. The amount of this ‘advance’ is 200.00 Cuban pesos per month for workers and 250.00 per month for shift managers and first and second assistant managers.

It is evident that the difference between workers and managers is not very significant. On the basis of this advance, a system of incentives was jointly established by UBPC workers. The incentives are in operation at harvest time, that is, for six months a year, and they work in the following way:

• Each worker obtains 2 per cent of the total profit from monthly sales.
• The most productive worker of the month (the one who has the best results) obtains 3 per cent instead of 2 per cent.

Although the income of El Paraíso Farmers’ Group members has not been quantified, it is possible to affirm that their income is generated at the time products are marketed. The main benefit in this case is from the savings made by not having to buy products that can be harvested from their own plots.

Each farmer’s family has four or five members, which means that more than 230 people directly consume produce from the plots.

In consultations with sixteen women from these families (wives and daughters of farmers), it was estimated that some 60 per cent of them help tend the plots.

They say that their assistance is not systematic and does not involve a significant amount of time, given that they are responsible for domestic chores and they also work outside the home. With regard to employment, it should be emphasized that, in Cuba, men generally retire at 60 years of age, whereas military men can retire at a younger age (45), and that women can retire at 55. Because of this, many farmers’ wives still work outside the home.

A similar situation exists for other members of the farmer’s family, male and female, because those of an age to attend school or go to work generally do so, and little time is left for helping out with activities at the plots.

Nonetheless, the wives and daughters that were consulted expressed the opinion that farmers’ work was very important because of the benefits it brings in feeding the family, improving nutritional habits and saving money that can then be spent on other necessities. They said that they directly influence what is harvested from the plot by requesting that their husbands or fathers plant certain crops needed in the home.

They also explained that, in the beginning when the plots were just being established, there was a lot of work to do in clearing, removing rocks, planting trees and other tasks. At that time, they contributed their support and hard work but, now that the work is mostly maintenance, they participate less.

There is still a problem in identifying exactly how much of the family food hamper comes from the farmer’s plot or the portion of produce that Intensive-Cultivation Garden producers are allowed to take home at no

cost. As explained earlier, the figures for urban agriculture, with few exceptions, are generally estimates.

However, producers assure us that hardly a day goes by without one or more products from the plot or garden being consumed in one or more meals at the family table. Regular items at meal time, depending on where production is carried out, include fresh vegetables, yucca, plantain, fruit juice and fruit preserves, fresh fruit, cooking herbs and spices, to name a few. They estimate that approximately 30 per cent of the family food hamper is provided by the plots.

Nevertheless, it can be estimated that about 90 per cent of fruit preserves consumed in the homes of these urban farmers is made from the products harvested from the plots, because this is a way to take advantage of the surplus at harvest time. However, these products are not marketed because ‘it is not allowed’, but it is customary to give them to friends and neighbours as gifts.

These same families inform us that they consume plot-produced yucca and plantain harvested for New Year’s and on other special occasions, although sales for this produce are generally highest at those times of the year, because “you have to take care of your own home first.”

Perspectives on the Maintenance and Development of Urban Agriculture in the Area Studied

Although throughout this chapter we have been pointing out some of the elements that show potential and weaknesses regarding the maintenance and development of urban agriculture in the area, there are other elements that also have a greater or lesser influence, directly or indirectly. The following is a summary of the most important ones that have arisen from this research.

Intensive-Cultivation Garden

El Pedregal producers inform us that being a member of an association (Basic Unit of Cooperative Production) brings with it benefits of self-financing operations, internal and external controls, and a certain degree of independence. Workers there are covered by social security and accumulate time and funds for retirement pensions. They are also guaranteed a percentage of their salary even when they are sick. These advantages are incentives to remain at this activity.

Moreover, producers say that working at an intensive-cultivation garden means:

• Professional development.
• The satisfaction of producing substantial amounts of food to meet the needs of the population.
• Public recognition of the social impact represented by offering food for sale at more accessible prices.
• Knowledge of the ecological benefit they are providing, because the area that they are now using for crops used to be a garbage dump with serious sanitation problems.
• The satisfaction that, although they work very hard, they see the results (high salaries).

It is important to point out one element that will affect the possibilities of keeping the Intensive-Cultivation Garden in the area. There is a positive relationship between producers and residents as well as between producers and other entities with whom mutually beneficial links have been developed.

It is also true that there are disadvantages in that the Greater Havana Fresh-Vegetable Company (EHM) requires them to go through a lot of red tape and paperwork (statistics, financial controls, among other tasks), which takes time away from agricultural work. They have to keep books showing the arrival and departure times of workers, maintain payrolls and carry out other administrative tasks as if they had a Department of Labour and Salary Organization, the same as any other government agency.

The EHM, through the Urban Municipal Farm (GUM), sets out an annual production quota for which it demands compliance, but without any agreement with UBPC workers. However, only repeated failure to comply with this quota could lead to a decision to disband the UBPC. The GUM requires these controls but provides very little in the way of materials to facilitate production.

The GUM only supplies them with seed for crops that the Company wants the UBPC to produce. This (supposedly certified) seed provided by the Seed Supply Company through the EHM sometimes has very little germinating power. It is only after this irregularity is repeated under various modes of production that the UBPC has any possibility of being reimbursed for it. On the contrary, the EHM takes it for granted that the problem arises from poor handling by producers. When the UBPC wishes to establish a crop that is not an EHM priority, it has no way of acquiring the seed. The EHM used to facilitate the acquisition of chemical fertilizers, but it no longer does so.

All of these problems tend to adversely affect producer motivation and they are issues that must be addressed in order to simplify the work of these men and women and help them build a greater personal identification with their work. As it stands, they tend to limit themselves when it comes time to possibly launch a new activity, such as raising livestock, because they know beforehand that their lives will be complicated by bureaucratic paperwork and applications for authorization.

Farmers’ Group

Interviews conducted with farmers show that they have the desire and the intention to continue producing in their respective areas for as long as possible. This assertion, in practice, is related to the following:

• The majority of the 53 farmers who began farming at El Paraíso ten years ago are still organized and still producing.
• They have put a lot of effort into planting fruit and timber trees, which is proof of their interest in remaining in crop production in the area.
• The intensive labour involved in preparing the land for cultivation (removing rocks).
• They are going through procedures to obtain a commercial licence to set up a sales outlet that would identify who they are and enable them to legally carry out this activity.

The people interviewed stated that the main reason they might stop raising crops in this area would be if the government requested the land for housing construction, depending on what the plans may be. However, they believe that urban development projects must take into account the possibility of keeping crop production areas.

It is important to underline that two of the farmers interviewed stated that one possible reason for quitting crop production is if the food needs of the population were ensured by the market (as in the past). At this point, an argument broke out among them, based on the fact that Cuba has always depended on food imports to satisfy its needs and that agricultural production in the cities is a very important way to educate future generations.

The farmers stated that belonging to a group gives them permanency in the area, along with the following advantages:

• They receive consultative services and training.
• They receive encouragement from the institutions and persons that they deal with.
• They receive information from the People’s Council, the Urban Municipal Farm and other institutions, such as, for example, the new regulations on plant health, news on upcoming community activities, etc.
• They share different varieties of seeds, seedlings, organic fertilizer and other items with each other.
• As a group, they are currently allowed to operate under a commercial licence.
• It is a way to establish and maintain friendships.

In addition, services from the GUM are steadily improving and there are free orientation sessions from the Department of Plant Health under the Municipal Group of Urban Agriculture when pests and diseases infest the crops. In addition, farm implements, seeds, biopreparations and other items are made available for sale by the GUM in Agricultural Support Stores.

Even though the El Paraíso Farmers’ Group is not subordinate to any institution, its members have direct relations with the representative from the Urban Municipal Farm, where they file monthly production reports, and with the chairperson and other members of the People’s Council. They also receive a large number of national and foreign visitors to whom they show the results of their labour.

General Considerations

When it comes to the development of a local economy, it can be asserted that the Camilo Cienfuegos zone has shown similar performance to the rest of the country, as mentioned in the introduction. This is even more striking if we bear in mind that practically no state productive or service facilities of any significance have been created there during the last few years and that the presence of freelance or independent workers, quite prevalent a short time ago, has diminished to the point of almost disappearing. Examples of this phenomenon are the small family restaurants known as ‘paladares’ in Cuba.

Notwithstanding the above, urban agricultural activity can be regarded as a modest component of local economic activity, owing to its production and marketing as well as its acceptance among the population and the benefits it brings to local residents, whether producers or consumers.

This potential must be addressed and developed on a larger scale. The following is a general summary of the most outstanding elements and those that require improvement:

• Agricultural activity in the area has been evolving and consolidating. This is demonstrated by the permanency of producers over time, the increase in output and the agencies and institutions involved in the activity. However, other possible forms of production have not caught on and production on plots and Intensive-Cultivation Gardens still exclusively predominate. The former shows a marked tendency toward family consumption and the latter is clearly oriented toward marketing.
• The organization of farmers means better access to training which, in turn, is reflected in more productive results, all of which contributes to the activity’s sustainability. However, it is evident that others in the area are interested in urban agriculture (dispersed or independent farmers) and no action has been taken that would meet these people’s requirements and help them to reach their productive potential.
• Water treatment for irrigation and availability of organic matter, issues basic to the activity’s sustainability, are not being given the attention they require, and this is largely due to producers’ confidence in continued state subsidies for their labour.
• There are serious natural limitations to agricultural production in the area, which helps to explain the low percentage of land used for agriculture compared to estimated potential. This, in turn, is reflected in the need for technological training regarding concrete natural conditions, and these aspects are still not covered by the organizations responsible for them in the area.
• Interviews have shown that gender relations in the agricultural sphere are based on the predominance of men in productive activity as such, in which women participate by providing support at specific times as a means of encouraging certain kinds of production. Nonetheless, it is women who inculcate food habits by being in charge of distributing money for purchasing food and defining which food products are most needed in the home. Moreover, women prepare food and possess the culinary knowledge and food preservation skills that could be used more amply with the help of training and other direct actions aimed at women.
• Current forms of marketing do not meet the demand of people residing in People’s Council zone, either because of poor location in relation to most of the population or the limited variety of products offered and the prices charged. To address this issue, all of the area’s potential must be taken advantage of, in terms of both area and population.
• For the moment, producers do not seem to be concerned about the possibility of being displaced from the land they occupy, in spite of the concessionary nature by which the lands were allotted to them, because they are backed by the recognition of both municipal and national governments, which make possible the improvement and development they require.
• One very important aspect is the outstanding support received from local government. The People’s Council, to the degree that it has become acquainted with the area’s potential, is searching for other ways of boosting producer-consumer relations for the benefits that these relations may provide. One example is the action taken to target residential waste for purposes of producing organic fertilizer.
• This local government support also has a bearing on the possible incorporation of urban agriculture into legislation at higher jurisdictional levels. One means is by starting with its recognition by agencies involved in the management and control of the city such as, for example, the Provincial Physical Planning Branch. It is hoped that ways and means can be found to put this all together in practice by drafting a project for the area in which urban agriculture would be permanently integrated.

Notes

1. Construction brigade formed by labour collectives and residents for building and maintaining housing and charity work.

2. City of Havana Provincial Physical Planning Branch.

3. Centro de Investigaciones de la Economía Mundial. Investigación sobre desarrollo humano y equidad en Cuba 1999. Havana, Caguayo, 2000.