My country is very far away, but the roots of my country are very close to Kenya. I’m from Cuba, and Cuban roots are African. The Cuban people are a mixture of African people, Spaniards, and indigenous people as well. In contrast to the previous speakers, in Cuba there are not multinational companies or trans-national companies or other entities that control the biodiversity. So, the Cuban revolution triumphed in 1959 and from the very beginning of the revolution, the government instituted policies to take care of the biodiversity, to use it sustainably, and to protect it as the collective heritage of the Cuban people. I know that I’m supposed to speak about the local experience in Cuba, so I want to let you know that I am a member of the national association of small agricultural producers. This is an umbrella organization of the small farmer movement and the cooperative movement and we have more than 350, 000 members.

Our organization was founded in 1959, when the government had a land reform to give land to the small farmers to produce food for the people. Along with the agrarian reform, the legal system and legislation was also overhauled. When this free land was entrusted to the small farmers, laws were passed to benefit the protection and caring for biodiversity of the land and resources that had been entrusted to the small farmers. At the same time, institute and ministry of agriculture was created which was in charge of drawing up the rules and laws for biodiversity conservation. These are laws that are written on paper, but they are not dead letter as laws are in many countries, these are laws that are complied with and respected. A fundamental principle of the whole question of land in Cuba is that land cannot be bought or sold. A foreigner cannot just show up and buy land. Neither can a multinational. They are not allowed to buy even one acre, because land is the collective heritage of the Cuban people.

At the same time there were awareness campaigns that were launched to encourage those that worked the land and those that used the natural resources to preserve them and conserve them for future generations. A key value and fundamental principle of small farmer families is that the land is in fact part of the family, and small farmers have to take care of it for the future generations.

I want to be very frank with you, and recognize that in the 1970s, Cuba also suffered the impacts of the Green Revolution. We recognize that we used fertilizers and chemicals that were harmful. Fortunately, we changed. There was a growing consciousness about how this was not appropriate. In the 1990s this change resulted in a real explosion of organic agriculture in the Cuban countryside. Of course, part of the impetus for the change was a very difficult economic situation that we faced, because of the blockade, the intensification of the blockade and the fall of our socialist allies, who had previously provided us with the agrochemicals and pesticides. Life got a lot harder in the Cuban countryside but we became organic farmers. Right now in my organization, the national association of small farmers, there is a great effervescence in the organic agricultural movement. It’s not something that came from above, or that was legislated, or a policy that was imposed, it really came from us. We have learned a great deal from the organic small farmer’s movement in Central America. We readily recognize the great contribution to our organic movement that they have made; the movement is called the organic farmer to farmer movement of Latin America. We also participate with Via Campasina, and were very active in the world campaign to save seeds and promote agricultural agriculture (?) by doing so, because we think that seeds are a collective heritage of the world and small farmers.

In closing, I would like to clarify, that our organic farming is not done because we can get more money for organic products. We produce organically, because we had a very difficult situation in the country, because there were no longer resources to continue to use and produce non-organically. I want it to be perfectly clear, that we farm organically because it is beneficial for the people and the environment, because its healthier, because we think that the biodiversity of Cuba is part of the heritage of future generations. Our organic production is for national consumption. It is not for export because organic products are getting a high price these days. It’s because we are conscious and aware that it is beneficial for ourselves and for the world.

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The speeches from Regaining Control of the Commons: WSF 2007 are provided for information and educational purposes. The transcription has been undertaken on a volunteer basis. Due to resource limitations we are unable to provide a complete transcription. We apologise for the breaks in the text.

Disclaimer: The view in this and the other articles do not (neccessarily) represent the position or views of Friends of the Earth Australia nor Friends of the Earth International.