Organic Urban Farms: Organoponico Gramo, Havana
Article 3 in the Sustainable Cuba Series...
We visited 'Organoponico Gramo' in the Cerro neighbourhood of Havana, and we were treated to a tour with Ernesto, a young enthusiastic man who had just finished 4 years of agronomy studies at university. While the organic urban farm had been there for 10 years, Ernesto has only been working there for a few years, so he excused himself for being unable to answer some of our questions.
The garden was very well organised. There were 3 rows of raised beds, which in turn were individually numbered - the raised beds were made from reclaimed tiles and bits of construction materials!. Everything is recorded in the treasured gardening book, listing what is planted in each numbered row and bed, and the date that the seeds were sown. Planting is organised in such a way that there is always something to harvest and sell, and there is never a patch with no vegetables. Time-specific organisation is very important to achieve this!
Mainly short-cycle plants are grown, such as a succulent creeping spinach (originating from New Zealand, apparently), lettuces, and chard, because they need just 60 days from sowing to harvesting. Other long-cycle plants are grown too, such as beans (which need three months), carrots, beets, etc. But more beds were dedicated to the leafy greens as they grow faster. There are parts of the year when greens don't grow so well, but fortunately that is when many of the fruit trees start to be abundant. Around the garden there were mango, avocado, cherry, banana, guanabana, and papaya trees. These fruits were also sold to the public.
When asked what they do to reduce the threat of pests, Ernesto answered that there isn't too large of a threat because they do not plant in the style of monoculture, and one of the benefits of having biodiversity in the garden is a reduced threat of an insect plague wiping out whole crops (a basic principle of organic gardening). We learned that at the end of each raised bed they plant marigold, basil, and oregano to protect the crops. Around the edge of the garden they had corn planted, apparently as a 'barrera vivo' (living barrier), a sacrifice crop for the bugs to eat: This prompts the bugs to eat the delicious sweet corn, rather than focusing their munching on the other plants grown in the garden. Also, each raised bed was lined on either side with thinner rows of other plants, mainly onion and garlic families. He said this was to increase biodiversity and make the best use of space, but I have a feeling it also helps to protect crops from pests.
Three men work on the farm, and they divide up responsibility over different parts of the garden, and work different hours. Yet the land is owned by the government, and a percentage of the farm income goes back to the government. The people who worked on this 'organoponico' also had afternoon jobs to give them a more complete income, however they never needed to buy fruits or vegetables because there was always enough abundance for them to take home and feed their families. The 'organoponico' is located directly next to a high rise of apartment blocks, housing over 1000 people, most of the windows looking down upon the gardens. Apparently though, not all residents came to buy their vegetables there – if they did, said Ernesto, they'd be wealthy vegetable growers!
As far as soil improvement goes, there was an area dedicated to compost, under a banana grove (see photo on the right). There is also a small horse stable right next door, and the owner happily gives all the horse manure to the 'organoponico' as a natural fertilizer. It was not known where the 'organoponico' soil came from originally because that was a long time ago, and the farm workers have changed since then!
Where do they source their seeds from? Apparently laws have recently been changed and they are allowed to harvest their own seeds. They harvest some broccoli seeds, for example, because broccoli is not so easily found in Cuba. But most of their seeds they buy from the 'Casa de Semillas' (the 'Seed House' located two blocks away, which I explained about in the last blog post), and while all the seeds come from Cuban companies, it is not listed if they are organic seeds or not upon purchasing.
Over the hour that we were speaking with Ernesto, around six locals came to buy vegetables. We watched as they pulled up the lettuces direct from the soil together, and each purchaser had brought their own bag to put their goodies in. At the end of our time, we filled our bag to the brim with spinach, beets and beet greens, basil, a succulent oregano, marigold flowers, and two mangoes that had freshly fallen from the tree, and we paid a tiny price of 5 Moneda Nacional, equivalent to 20 cents. Apparently organic and non-organic produce costs exactly the same price in Cuba. Many 'organoponicos' sell their organic vegetables in the 'agropecuaria' produce markets, and no distinction is made between what is organic and what isn't.
Apart from vegetables, people also come here regularly seeking the medical plants that they've been advised to take by the doctor. They grow and sell chicory (good for hypertension and diabetes), basil and oregano, amongst others. I was surprised by Ernesto's general knowledge of medicinal plants, but when I told him this, he modestly said, “No no, I really don't know much at all”, even though he had just been reeling off the medicinal uses of various plants for the last five minutes!
I asked if they had accepted work-exchanges for vegetables. Ernesto said that nobody had ever approached them offering that, but if someone came and said, “I'm poor, I have no money and can't afford to buy vegetables. I offer to weed this whole patch of the garden, if you will provide me with some vegetables...” then Ernesto would gladly accept, and would offer him vegetables for a month, such as a lettuce a day, or a handful of radishes a day... It seems like a great deal!
