Interview Series : Lydia Davis

Bharat Mansata
Organic Revolution

This remarkable story demolishes the myth that organic farming can never feed the world! Holistically adopted, it can also revitalise society, enhance the environment and safeguard future generations. In the current raging debate over urban-industrial uprootment of farmers, here is one example the world cannot ignore. After the Soviet Union collapsed – and the US tightened its embargo – Cuba’s Organic Revolution began suddenly, under compulsion. A decade later, in 1999, the Swedish Parliament presented the Right Livelihood Award, or ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’, to the Cuban Organic Farming Association – for “showing that organic agriculture is a key to both food security and environmental sustainability.” Today, not only has Cuba’s productivity increased, its economy, health, education, energy efficiency, water security, … are all big gainers. In 2006, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Global Footprint Network declared: Cuba is the only country on earth to achieve sustainable development! The American Journal of Public Health reported a 45% decline in cardiovascular diseases. Cuba’s bio-diverse agro-ecology and forest cover exceeding 25% also counter global warming. “Increasingly, people came to believe that productive, healthy harvests could be obtained on positive cost-benefit terms, while protecting the environment, … without excessive energy use.” – Dr. Fernando F. Aguilar, President, GAO, Organic Farming Association of Cuba “Cuba offers the very first large-scale test of sustainable alternatives, … before environmental realities mandate the rest of the world embark on a sudden, wholesale switch to organic agriculture.” – Dr. P. Rosset, Director, ‘Food First’, Institute for Food & Development Policy, Washington, USA “… Cuba is creating something truly new and hopeful for all of humanity.” -Prof. R. Levins, Harvard University School of Public Health.

Page 131, New edition