Behind the buildings of a Havana suburb, small plots of land are well maintained between rows of banana trees. Sergio (all names have been changed) carries two buckets at arm’s length to water his tomato plants. “Tomatoes are a luxury, I don’t eat them, I sell them at a high price”He said, smiling. He takes a handkerchief out of his pocket, rubs it with soap and meticulously removes the aphids: “It would be more effective with chemicals, but there aren’t any. Sometimes there is even a shortage of soap.”
Sergio is not a farmer, but a civil servant. His land, however, has become a source of income equivalent to the salary he receives at the Ministry of Health. With several neighbours, they cleared this plot of land occupied by brambles three years ago and now they take turns, at night, to protect their crops from potential thieves: “The garden is the envy of many people in the neighborhood because they have nothing to eat. The only food available and free of charge are the bananas that grow everywhere. We can say that Cubans do not lack potassium.”
According to the latest survey on food insecurity carried out in 2024 by the NGO Programa Monitor de Alimentos among 2,700 households in all provinces of the island, 96.27% of respondents admitted to having serious difficulties in feeding themselves. The same number (96.61%) believes that the notebookThe food ration booklet given to every Cuban family is totally insufficient to cover their needs. Fruit and vegetables, with the exception of bananas and mangoes, are particularly scarce in the current diet.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic and with the establishment of new sanctions by former US President Donald Trump, held back by Joe Biden, Cuba has found itself in the midst of a serious social crisis. The price increase in one year, close to 70% at the end of 2021, has returned to around 30% in recent months, according to the Cuban statistics institute. Most food is now imported, exacerbating inequalities within Cuban society. That is why small gardens on the outskirts of towns like Sergio and his neighbours have become so important to improve meals and incomes.
Production “destined for export”
The Cuban state had been distributing land for use since the 1990s in an attempt to revive agricultural production, which had collapsed at the same time as the communist bloc. “Cuba has invested heavily in its agriculture and, in the 1980s, it was even the most modern in Latin America, explains anthropologist Marie Aureille, a PhD student at the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS) and a specialist in Cuban agriculture. But this production was mainly intended for export, particularly of sugar, tobacco and citrus fruits. Above all, this agriculture has always been very dependent on agricultural inputs: fuel, seeds and fertilizers. Every time these inputs were lacking, whether during the fall of the communist bloc or more recently with the Covid-19 crisis, agricultural production collapsed. »
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