Update from Chelsea Scheske - Organic Agriculture Facilitator in Cuba

¡Saludos desde Cuba!

I arrived in Pinar del Río a month ago and already I’ve seen, done, and learned so much.  In a typical week, Lina and I spend two days working in the office on tasks like data analysis for the diagnostic we’ve been doing for the project.  During the remaining three days, we bike out to the farms and work with our farmers.  I love that we have the freedom to pedal around the Cuban countryside, it’s a great balance for those days spent with our heads down in the office.

Lina and I have been hard at work implementing a medicinal plant project with the support of Professor Suarez from the University of Pinar del Río, Cuba.  This project is part of a larger program under the banner of PIAL (Programa de Innovación Agropecuaria Local).  The mission of this program is, in summary, to foster decentralized decision making in order to incorporate farmer knowledge and experience into agricultural innovation.  As most of you probably know, decentralized decision making is a huge part of food sovereignty, so as a food sovereignty enthusiast this is an AWESOME program for me to be a part of.  It’s really been great to have Lina here with me.  As she’s done her masters and will soon be doing her Ph. D on Cuban agriculture.  She’s accumulated a LOT of knowledge on the subject.  Cuban agriculture is organized much differently than Canadian agriculture, and with its numerous different cooperative structures it can seem a bit complicated at first.  Believe me, I’m taking full advantage of her conocimientos!

Right now we’re working with several local farmers to develop medicinal plant propagation on their farms.  This is pretty cool: in Cuba, every province has a specific farm dedicated to the production of medicinal plants.  Here it’s the Finca de Plantas Medicinales de Pinar del Río.  This farm supplies medicinal plants to the provincial medicinal plant factory, which in turn processes the plants for distribution among the population.  This includes isolating the medicinal element and expressing it in forms like tinctures, pills, ointments, etc.  The project we’re working on is in place to help supply the provincial medicinal plant factory with certain plants that are in high demand, and are not being supplied in great enough quantities by the provincial medicinal plant farm.  I think it’s so interesting that Cuba has a whole sector dedicated to the production and distribution of medicinal plants.  It’s cheaper than producing pharmaceuticals, many would say healthier, and it’s helping to keep traditional medicinal knowledge alive.  I’ve learned so much about “traditional medicines” since arriving.  In contrast to Canada, the majority of the Cubans I’ve met have at least some kind of knowledge of medicinal plants, and most grow them in their houses.  It’s pretty inspiring.

Working in Cuba is much different than working in Canada.  Because of the difficulty in getting certain supplies, sometimes it takes a LOT of creativity to get simple tasks done.  But the people here have responded to the challenge.  It’s seriously amazing to see what kinds of innovations these farmers have come up with!  Along with them I’m being forced to “think outside the box”, and in terms of personal development it’s been great for my problem solving skills.  For example: Need to cut the grass?  Here’s a machete!  Need a toothpick?  Use this machete!  Want a haircut?  Machete!  You get the idea.  By the time I’m done this internship I’ll be able to use a machete for absolutely everything, including shaving my legs.  It’s going on my CV, count on it.

Not only are we able to work with local farmers and medicinal plants, we’re using Permaculture and Analogue Forestry principles on all the farms!  For example, on Tony’s farm we’re implementing a permaculture design based on medicinal plants to demonstrate the benefits of using permaculture principles to grow medicinals, which are notoriously sensitive.  We’re using mostly tires and rocks, which Cuba has in abundance, to make things like raised beds, mandalas, and herb-spirals.  We think it looks pretty great (check out the picture!).  Tony is a Boccachi expert, and also an avid “lombriculturalist” (worm-culturist)… so yeah, we get along!  Lina and I are also trying a “mini-lombricultura” bin in our place with the worms they use in Cuba (California Reds).  We’ve had to be creative about finding supplies and constructing the bin, but so far it’s been a success, although the dueños of the casa where we’re staying aren’t quite sure what to make of it… they’ll come around!  Lombricultura is mostly used here to process manure in large quantities for application as fertilizer in agriculture.  Composting and recycling food waste are not popular, so if we can get this vermi-compost system working with the California Reds we’re thinking about creating a workshop to give at the farms or in the schools.  You know… changing the world, one worm at a time!  I’ll keep you posted.

Tony and Chelsea with the finished Mandala design.

On Sely’s farm (another farmer in our project) we explained the benefits of sowing with the contours as opposed to down the slope and put our mad A-Frame skills into practice, mapping out the contours on a particular field with a very steep gradient.  He planted his tobacco y frijoles there last week using this technique, and we’re hoping he’ll see an improvement in his yields.  We’re also using the living fence concept in this field as another way to reduce erosion and run off of nutrients, soil and water.  As well, we’re in the process of designing an Analogue Forestry Corridor on his farm using medicinal plants, fruit trees, forage, and root crops.

I could go on, but I’ve got to save something for next time!  In summary, I’ve so far had the opportunity to meet and work with some amazing people who have already taught me so much about organic agriculture, creativity, and resilience.  I’m looking forward to 4.5 more months of it!  So I bid you adios.  Learn lots and have fun!  And of course, toil hard.

Nos vemos,

Chelsea

Cutting tires to be used to make raised beds in permaculture design.

Frame built using farm resources, and used to measure slope to facilitate contour
plowing.