Cuba Drops Genetically Modified Crops

Although not in Cuba, public protests have been held in numerous countries in the region against Monsanto and the use of transgenic seeds.
Although not in Cuba, public protests have been held in numerous countries in the region against Monsanto and the use of genetically modified seeds. The sign reads “I don’t want to eat transgenics.”

They made tests in 2011 but then stopped.

HAVANA TIMES — Cuban authorities said today that the island has no plans to open up to the controversial use of transgenic seeds, despite the possibilities offered by them to increase agricultural production, reported dpa news.

“To date we haven’t even considered working with (the US company) Monsanto,” said Manuel Rodríguez, the CEO of the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture company that produces seeds.

“The policy of the country thus far is to not negotiate with anyone to produce transgenic seeds,” said Rodriguez. The use of such crops is not contemplated for “biosecurity” reasons, said Rogelio Pupo, another official.

The rapprochement with the United States has generated in recent months expectations of increasing production and trade possibilities of Cuban agriculture.

The island has been trying for several years to improve its poor agricultural output. Cuba imports the majority of the food consumed, as well as the necessary farm inputs. It also has a big farm infrastructure deficiency.

Rodrigues noted that although some tests with transgenic crops were made in 2011, the country has no plans to resume them. “A GM program was established at some point. It advanced a little and it was stopped,” he said.

With the improved relations between Cuba and the United States, the US agricultural industry has shown interest in the island.

The thaw with the United States has also raised interest in companies from other countries to trade with Cuba, said Rodriguez. “There is an increase (in contacts), especially in Europe,” he added.

According to the Cuban Agriculture Ministry, the island imports about a third of its seeds for cultivation of vegetables and tubers.

Monsanto is one of the world leaders in the production of genetically modified seeds to increase productivity. However such crops are under increasing criticism in Europe and several Latin American countries.

57 thoughts on “Cuba Drops Genetically Modified Crops”

  • Once you get out from under the influence of the Monsanto press releases masquerading as real science, you can easily find enough sources so you can do a little studying of this important subject ( since you eat every day ) and decide for yourself.

    Let’s start with 800 scientists:
    http://naturalsociety.com/800-scientists-global-gmo-experiment-stop/

    Here is what JANE GOODALL has to say:
    http://www.naturalnews.com/049206_Jane_Goodall_GMOs_industry_science.html

    On the subject of Monsanto’s misleading ( or false ) statements about crop yields:
    http://www.ewg.org/agmag/2015/03/claims-gmo-yield-increases-don-t-hold#.VSiFtDvA0Wk.facebook

    For a little balance, however, here is what a Marine wrote to the CEO of Monsanto:
    http://www.naturalnews.com/049264_GMO_ban_US_Marine_organic_diet.html

  • One need only to look up the stats regarding the use of these novel foods.
    USDA ERS Charts – 93% of all soybean are “herbicide resistant”, 82
    percent of cotton, corn 76%, some with the insecticides infecting the
    DNA of the plant. Some with “stacked traits” expressing up to 8 dif.
    insecticides and pesticides in their DNA with no safety testing in
    Canada. See: Smart Stax Corn – CBAN
    also see: Pesticide Use Increases on GE Crops or Failure to Yield studies.
    Your source, profits from the submission of studies from those with invested interest.
    see: Why Most Published Research Findings Are False

  • You have no idea how happy I am of hearing this!! Cuba could become the world’s greatest example for organic and natural foods!! No need for GMOs. Cuba has already been a great example of other integrities, so this is just consistent with what the Cuban government represents! Well done!! Super happy!! I fully support!!

  • None of this changes the actual facts I posted above.

  • They seem to have done OK for the last 50+ years without cancer causing Roundup laden GMOs and Dow Chemical pesticides.

    They don’t need corrupt GMO pesticide industry disinformation goons like you telling them what to do.

  • For anyone interested in actual evidence, search the scientific literature using Google Scholar. It filters out most of the snake oil.

  • I am simply pointing out that their system is neither sufficient nor sustainable. If we all could only supply 20% of our food needs, then 80% would starve.

  • Lots of data debunking these outdated, cooked and in some cases outright false gmo propaganda.
    see: Forbes – GMO Crops Mean More Herbicide, Not Less
    see: Herbicide and Insecticide Use on GMO Crops Skyrocketing While Pro-GMO Media Run Interference
    see “Failure to Yield”.
    see ” 30 year study shows organic crops outperform GMO”.
    see: “The Post-GMO economy”.
    see ” Fields of Gold: GMO-Free Crops Prove Lucrative for Farmers”.
    see “New Study Gives Genetically-Modified Crops a Failing Grade”.
    see “American Farmers Abandoning Genetically Modified Seeds: “Non-GMO Crops are more Productive and Profitable”.
    “see: “Genetic engineering lags behind conventional breeding in efforts to create drought-resistant maize.”
    Don’t get me started on the pestilence, disease, dirty business etc.
    (links to articles, GMO bans and studies in comments).
    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151875888480661

  • You think the solution would be for them to import GMO seeds and chemicals.

    They Cuba would have the same problems with technologies that have failed and are failing in the US and other places.

    It looks to me like you are looking for new markets for your Dow Chemical employer, Rod Herman.

  • Only a corrupt GMO pesticide industry disinformation operative and Dow Chemical employee like Rod Herman would think substituting a plant that produces a bt pesticide in every cell of the plant including the pollen that blows free and can not be washed off is better than a natural approved organic bt which is killed bt and can easy be washed off and can be used only if needed.

    Not only that, now the insects are becoming bt tolerant and the trait is not working as advertised.

  • Just because it’s published doesn’t make it true.

    Dr. Richard Horton, the current editor-in-chief of the Lancet which is considered to be one of the most well respected peer-reviewed medical journals in the world has said that half of all peer reviewed science literature is false.

    Not only that, but Dr. Marcia Angell is a physician and was longtime Editor-in-Chief of the New England Medical Journal, considered to be another one of the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals in the world. Angell stated,

    “It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.”

    Harvey Marcovitch, who has studied and written about the corruption of medical tests and publication in medical journals, writes, “studies showing positive outcomes for a drug or device under consideration are more likely to be published than ‘negative’ studies; editors are partly to blame for this but so are commercial sponsors, whose methodologically well-conducted studies with unfavorable results tended not to see the light of day…”

    Corruption is rampant and many of our scientific, academic, and government institutions have been corrupted and compromised.

    Only a corrupt GMO pesticide industry disinformation echo chamber operative would use that kind of junk pseudo-science to support a corrupt industry.

  • Cuba imports 80% of its food because its agriculture is so backwards. They eat whatever they can get their hands on.

  • This is very scary! Instead of manufacturing the organic Bt pesticide in vats in a factory, putting it in plastic bottles, shipping it to farmers in trucks, and then spraying it on organic crops with a tractor, the GMO makes the Bt protein using its own metabolism using solar energy.

    http://aem.asm.org/content/72/5/3435.short

  • If you get your info from activist web sites then you can find anything to support your agenda. Try Google Scholar and you filter out most of the snake oil:

    “On average, GM technology adoption has reduced chemical pesticide use by 37%, increased crop yields by 22%, and increased farmer profits by 68%. Yield gains and pesticide reductions are larger for insect-resistant crops than for herbicide-tolerant crops. Yield and profit gains are higher in developing countries than in developed countries.”

    http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0111629

  • They had a few test fields, they were never in widespread use or production.

  • Hmmm….me too…and here are court documents proving exactly that!
    GMOs cannot be GRAS (generally recognized as safe) the proper testing was not done and the testing that was showed GMOs caused harm to humans and animals! The FDA is a FRAUD!
    Please watch video clip….the fact IS GMOs are on the market ILLEGALLY! They cannot be considered GRAS!

    he FDA IGNORED their own scientists warnings….they did NOT test GMOs properly…GMOs are on the market illegally!

    http://3dd(dot)816(dot)myftpupload(dot)com/24-fda-documents/
    http://3dd(dot)816(dot)myftpupload(dot)com/financial-times-article/
    http://3dd(dot)816(dot)myftpupload(dot)com/article-on-illegality-of-fda/

    http://www.washingtonsblog(dot)com/2015/03/jane-goodall-steven-druker-expose-us-government-fraud-gmos(dot)html

    This is a must watch… Steven Druker says every GMO food is on the market illegally

    The Des Moines Register presented a free panel discussion Tuesday afternoon on the pros and cons of genetically modified crops http://archive.courier-journal(dot)com/VideoNetwork/2744565232001/Steven-Druker-say-every-GMO-food-is-on-the-market-illegally

  • You are so right!

  • Cuba has a chance to keep an environment that has not been polluted with crop contamination by GMO crops.

    To have a place that is isolated enough to maintain food and plant purity will benefit the health of all Cubans and possibly many others in the future.

    Thank you Cuba!

  • Too bad they didn’t know how to use that “tool” — or at least didn’t use it properly — when they granted GE foods GRAS status (albeit, illegally.)

  • The article says they had them in 2011, but then dropped them…

  • Sounds like YOU should read the book, John…

  • Smart people

  • If Cuba knew what was good for it, they’d keep Monsanto out! The last thing they need is this greedy, monopolistic, irresponsible bloodsucker of corporation leeching off of them…

  • the legal process is the preferred battleground of multinational corporations with their teams of lawyers. Look at TTiP, look at the erosion of access to justice as court costs render legal measures beyond the pockets of ordinary citizens.

  • nice that you are understand that system in wholly, and I hope that Cuba will not experience fate like yugoslavia who had same system like Cuba but much, much more richer .

  • VIVA CUBA,
    That’s why canada do not imported any grocery from cuba, but imported from mexico, chile, brazil, argetina (all GMO garbage ), but at list we have organic cubane cigars.

  • US yields? Of what, poison and pollution that is destroying the earth forever? If you like those kind of “yields” you would love the polluted wasteland of China. They are an example of hell on earth with “yields”

  • An even scarier prospect: the “BT” version of GMO soybeans and corn, (basically pesticides engineered directly into the plant )

    The “BT toxin” gene is put into the DNA of the corn in order for it to manufacture its own toxins that kill pests. The BT gene originated from a soil bacteria that also infiltrates the microflora (friendly digestive bacteria) in your gut. The Bt gene converts the microflora in your intestine into toxin-manufacturing machines.

    So, to be clear, eating GMO corn products can cause your gut (which is primarily responsible for keeping you healthy) to turn into a breeding ground for tiny little pesticide factories inside your body, actively creating toxins which are designed to kill living things. These toxins are found in the blood and are readily transferred across the placenta to developing babies in the womb.

  • GMOs do NOT increase yields, and work against feeding a hungry world.

    Whereas sustainable non-GMO agricultural methods used in developing countries have conclusively resulted in yield increases of 79% and higher, GMOs do not, on average, increase yields at all. This was evident in the Union of Concerned Scientists’ 2009 report Failure to Yield?the definitive study to date on GM crops and yield.

  • GMOs cross pollinate and their seeds can travel. It is impossible to fully clean up our contaminated gene pool. Self-propagating GMO pollution will outlast the effects of global warming and nuclear waste. The potential impact is huge, threatening the health of future generations. GMO contamination has also caused economic losses for organic and non-GMO farmers who often struggle to keep their crops pure.

    GMOs increase herbicide use. Most GM crops are engineered to be “herbicide tolerant”?surviving deadly weed killers. Monsanto, for example, sells Roundup Ready crops, designed to survive applications of their Roundup herbicide. Between 1996 and 2008, US farmers sprayed an extra 383 million pounds of herbicide on GMOs. Overuse of Roundup results in “superweeds,” resistant to the herbicide. This is causing farmers to use even more toxic herbicides every year. Not only does this create environmental harm, GM foods contain higher residues of toxic herbicides. Roundup, for example, is linked with sterility, hormone disruption, birth defects, and cancer.

  • GMOs cross pollinate and their seeds can travel. It is impossible to fully clean up our contaminated gene pool. Self-propagating GMO pollution will outlast the effects of global warming and nuclear waste. The potential impact is huge, threatening the health of future generations. GMO contamination has also caused economic losses for organic and non-GMO farmers who often struggle to keep their crops pure.

    GMOs increase herbicide use. Most GM crops are engineered to be “herbicide tolerant”?surviving deadly weed killers. Monsanto, for example, sells Roundup Ready crops, designed to survive applications of their Roundup herbicide. Between 1996 and 2008, US farmers sprayed an extra 383 million pounds of herbicide on GMOs. Overuse of Roundup results in “superweeds,” resistant to the herbicide. This is causing farmers to use even more toxic herbicides every year. Not only does this create environmental harm, GM foods contain higher residues of toxic herbicides. Roundup, for example, is linked with sterility, hormone disruption, birth defects, and cancer.

    GMOs cross pollinate and their seeds can travel. It is impossible to fully clean up our contaminated gene pool. Self-propagating GMO pollution will outlast the effects of global warming and nuclear waste. The potential impact is huge, threatening the health of future generations. GMO contamination has also caused economic losses for organic and non-GMO farmers who often struggle to keep their crops pure.

    GMOs increase herbicide use. Most GM crops are engineered to be “herbicide tolerant”?surviving deadly weed killers. Monsanto, for example, sells Roundup Ready crops, designed to survive applications of their Roundup herbicide. Between 1996 and 2008, US farmers sprayed an extra 383 million pounds of herbicide on GMOs. Overuse of Roundup results in “superweeds,” resistant to the herbicide. This is causing farmers to use even more toxic herbicides every year. Not only does this create environmental harm, GM foods contain higher residues of toxic herbicides. Roundup, for example, is linked with sterility, hormone disruption, birth defects, and cancer.

    GM crops and their associated herbicides can harm birds, insects, amphibians, marine ecosystems, and soil organisms. They reduce bio-diversity, pollute water resources, and are unsustainable. For example, GM crops are eliminating habitat for monarch butterflies, whose populations are down 50% in the US. Roundup herbicide has been shown to cause birth defects in amphibians, embryonic deaths and endocrine disruptions, and organ damage in animals even at very low doses. GM canola has been found growing wild in North Dakota and California, threatening to pass on its herbicide tolerant genes on to weeds.

    By mixing genes from totally unrelated species, genetic engineering unleashes a host of unpredictable side effects. Moreover, irrespective of the type of genes that are inserted, the very process of creating a GM plant can result in massive collateral damage that produces new toxins, allergens, carcinogens, and nutritional deficiencies.

    The toxins associated with GMO should never be tolerated. NEONICOTINOID PESTICIDE neurotoxins are absolutely the main factor causing the collapse of bee and pollinator populations along with other lethal chemicals, Agent Orange herbicides, glysophate, etc. When these poisons are banned as they were in Europe the bee populations start to recover. GMO neonicotinoids, roundup etc. MUST BE BANNED OUTRIGHT and all the farmers along with USDA, Biotech and chemical companies told to cease and desist from what they are doing.

    GMOs do NOT increase yields, and work against feeding a hungry world.

    Whereas sustainable non-GMO agricultural methods used in developing countries have conclusively resulted in yield increases of 79% and higher, GMOs do not, on average, increase yields at all. This was evident in the Union of Concerned Scientists’ 2009 report Failure to Yield?the definitive study to date on GM crops and yield.

    An even scarier prospect: the “BT” version of GMO soybeans and corn, (basically pesticides engineered directly into the plant )

    The “BT toxin” gene is put into the DNA of the corn in order for it to manufacture its own toxins that kill pests. The BT gene originated from a soil bacteria that also infiltrates the microflora (friendly digestive bacteria) in your gut. The Bt gene converts the microflora in your intestine into toxin-manufacturing machines.

    So, to be clear, eating GMO corn products can cause your gut (which is primarily responsible for keeping you healthy) to turn into a breeding ground for tiny little pesticide factories inside your body, actively creating toxins which are designed to kill living things. These toxins are found in the blood and are readily transferred across the placenta to developing babies in the womb.

  • GMO and its associated lethal pesticides and herbicides are dangerous poisons. Eating genetically modified corn (GM corn) and consuming trace levels of Monsanto’s Roundup chemical fertilizer caused rats to develop horrifying tumors, widespread organ damage, and premature death. rats exposed to even the smallest amounts, “developed mammary tumors and severe liver and kidney damage as early as four months in males, and seven months for females.” The animals on the GM diet suffered mammary tumors, as well as severe liver and kidney damage. Everywhere GMO is being grown, food allergies, disorders such as autism, reproductive disorders, digestive problems, and others have been skyrocketing in the human populations

  • I would not place 100% trust in any one book or author on any subject.
    What do the majority of agronomists, scientists, environmentalist have to say.
    What is the overall consensus in the scientific community on the matter ?

  • Within 30 years , technology i.e. super -human AI and super-human speed computers will enable humanity to cure all diseases including old age.
    A recent Time Magazine cover showed an infant with the caption: “This Child Could Live To Be 142” . Inside were some details about scientists doubling the life span of lower life forms by teleomere (sp?) manipulation .
    The process by which all human cells reproduce themselves and then run out of that ability is now known and the manipulation and lengthening of the critical parts is now well underway in lab animals.
    That work will certainly start on human cells soon .
    And yes, living to be one thousand or as long as you wish ..is not only probable but that probability and ability will come about far, far sooner than the vast majority of people think.
    Think 30 years at the outside but IMO it’s far likely to come about years sooner .
    We will definitely have human-speed level computing (1000 petaflops)
    by the early 2020s so you can extrapolate from that.
    By 2030 there will only be ( very, very smart) machines….not programmed robots but THINKING machines -smarter than any human -doing all or most labor.
    Oddly enough the jobs most people think are safest from automation : cubicle- type repetitive work are far more susceptible to smart-machines taking them away from humans than are service sector jobs that require vision and other qualities that only more advanced AI/robotics will be capable of.
    Food for thought.

  • My apologies for linking you to Gus. I use his name more as a joke than to make a point. I see where your coming from and perhaps we agree that Cuba, when it begins to come out of its totalitarian shell, should strive to become independent and progressive. Simple to state for someone sitting in a nice air conditioned home and no debt but the potential
    is there for a people who have had a rough few decades. Just a side note, one of my favorite author’s is Chomsky. Sadly, you and I would probably start a war if I gave my opinion on Nixon but there’s a reason why I liked him. Enjoy your posts.

  • Having never watched or listened to Rush Limbaugh, I can only respond that in a society governed by the rule of law even corporations which engage in practices that I may disagree with have a right to due process. For a guy who claims to support the highest of democracy, your comments reflect narrow-minded and authoritarian strategies more often than not.

  • Your post is as moronic as any you’ve posted.
    It’s totally something Rush Limbaugh would have said and has said many times.
    This is not a fight.
    They are fucking up YOUR planet’s food supply .
    It has nothing to do with an argument.
    If they are abusing the Earth and thereby also endangering humanity, why not take them over and operate the works in an environmentally sound way ?
    Yeah , I know, it’s more important to protect profits than humans .

  • You don’t get much correct.
    Gus Hall headed the CPUSA .
    As an anarchist, I can not possibly have any affinity or connection with any Communist Party.
    Call off your embargo and we’ll THEN see if Cuba’s economy is a failure.
    A little history for you: Back around 1960 then Undersecretary of State Lester Mallory came up with a plan to starve the Cuban people into forsaking their revolution and that plan was put into place , later strengthened and has been known as the Cuban Embargo .
    It’s intent was to create MASSIVE POVERTY across the entire population and such misery that the Cubans would overthrow their own revolution.
    The plan only half worked.
    It caused massive poverty across the island BUT failed to cause a counter-revolution because …the Cuban people still prefer what they have to what people (?) like you wish to impose upon them .
    The answer to Cuba’s problems is democracy.
    Democracy is neither what the U.S. is interested in nor what you wish for Cuba.
    My guess is that you support capitalism , the U.S. oligarchic governmental form, religion and the nuclear family structure.
    All of these are totalitarian and these things led by capitalism are what you and the GOUSA wish to impose upon Cuba.
    As long as the embargo remains in effect, the U.S. attempt to overthrow the Cuban revolution, as it has scores of other movements around the world, remains in effect and can only be forgotten by history amnesiacs like you.
    .
    We can only know what Cuba can possibly be if relations are normalized and the GOUSA is not giving up its 100-year old policy of preventing smaller and weaker countries from having the systems THEY want in the case of Cuba.
    They have never made an exception.
    Don’t you know any of this stuff ?

  • Anyone who wants to live to a thousand should invest in Aubrey De Grey. How long before we have genetically modified kabballah

  •  I love Cuba for what it is, an Island. I have been. Maybe after all, Cuba is for the people. I hope they stay strong and do not give in to genetically modified food or processed foods that, are harmful to us like the food in America. In Cuba a bag of chips stale the same day if not eaten. I like how they work to find cures and not medications to help people live with disease. In addition, health care is free or cures come at a low cost. People there do not make much money, but there isn’t Corporations and CEO’S over the people making capital gains. All the people worried about the Economics over Environment, should hold there breath and count your money, a penny at a time. Cuba, I hope you set an example and do not become another China or America. Education is important, and it reflects.

  • Well John I consider myself more of a capitalist than a socialist and consider all sides of the spectrum whenever there’s a debate. Truth is we capitalism in its purist form isn’t much practiced in most places so what’s the solution? Cuba is a pretty sorry country and yes i know about the medical/educational/and food ration cards that keeps most from dying in the streets from disease and or hunger but it’s a dying system. Come up with an answer John and I’ll look forward to your post. I said this before and will say it again, a few are quite peeved that Gus Hall is dead!

  • The system is fatally flawed and excuses abound about the embargo being the cause but change is inevitable and the latest agriculture
    production report reflects this.

  • That’s how you guys think? When you can’t beat ’em, just take it away from them.

  • I won’t argue with half. As you said, it’s all over the place because of different irrigation standards and cultivation methods.

  • The numbers I could find seem to be all over the place, but in general yield/hectare seems to be around half of what the US is. Even Vietnam seems to get much better yields, at least in rice (most rice in Cuba comes from Vietnam).

  • Cuba did not “drop” them, they never had them.

  • Socialize Monsanto .
    Make it serve people and not the stockholders .
    We can use their brains and knowledge in a far safer way were the profit motive not the priority..as it certainly is.

  • YES isn’t it sad ? and hopefully the capitalists that run the U.S. government and the country will also call off their 55 year-old economic war on the island .
    It is that war that counter-revolutionaries must necessarily ignore in order to blame the Cubans for ALL their problems.
    Which renders those arguments one-sided and invalid.
    Any history written less than say 20 years from now after capitalism dies from advanced automation -long story on the details of that- will fairly place the blame for the vast majority of Cuba’s problems on the 100 year-old policies of the USA. policies.
    You might want to check out the long but certainly incomplete list of U.S. interventions just between 1945 and the mid Nineties detailed in “Killing Hope” and Rogue State: A Guide To The World’s Only Superpower” both at their eponymous websites just to understand the continuity of the anti-socialist/communist policy that is always at the center of U.S. actions.
    To know and understand the very long-standing historical policy that aims to destroy the Cuban Revolution is to understand and know the past, the present and to not be surprised at future actions by the Empire.
    Cultivate knowledge to fight the ignorance of history “they don’t want you to know” .

  • The effects of genetic manipulation in food crops is still very much an unknown .Should anyone need more information on the GMOs having been pushed upon us despite scientific warnings ,please read “Altered Genes,Twisted Truth” by Steven M.Druker.A very comprehensive report on the politics and the machinations of big
    business.Well worth the read .My advice to Cuba is to stay away from GMO products since it has not been introduced yet in your country.

  • There is thought that some GMOs currently in use are killing off the Monarch butterfly population in the U.S.
    If true, it sends out a caution about any GMO .
    Another problem with genetically modified crops developed in the advanced and rich countries like the USA require more fertilizer or other conditions maybe not available in other climates and environments.
    That said, to throw out all GMOs as dangerous is foolish.
    Science is a tool we have, are and will always rely upon to advance the race.
    The problem again. is the misuse of these organisms driven by …wait for it…the profit motive.
    To believe that capitalists are at all interested in the fate of the poor farmers of the world when huge profits stand in the way is perhaps typical of most supporters of an unsupportable , immoral economic system which the U.S. has enforced and imposed upon the poorer nations of the world at least since 1918 and the invasion of the Soviet Union.
    Thee problem is agreed -driven system that cares first about money profits .
    Caring for humankind always comes in second when money comes between morality and acting morally.
    We should be including the cause of the problem and not just address the various symptoms when discussing these sorts of issues. .

  • There are so many variables that comparisons are of little use but very roughly US yields are 3 times greater. Your comment is correct. However under Castro leadership, Cuba has nearly doubled the population while yields per hectares have decreased along with total area cultivated.

  • How do Cuba’s yields compare to developed countries? How much have US yields gone up compared with the number of acres under cultivation? The goal is not more land in cultivation, but rather more food from less land.

  • Keep MONSANTO out!

  • The reason Cuba has ridiculously low agricultural output has nothing to do with the US embargo nor the lack of willing and able agricultural workers. Low agricultural yield is owned to increasing fewer hectares under cultivation. In 1959, there were nearly 3 million agricultural workers in Cuba. In 2012 there were slightly more than 4 million farm workers. While the total number of Cubans in agriculture has increased since 1959, the total land in Cuba under cultivation has decreased.

  • Good idea for sure! Sad that Cuba, has the capability to feed it’s country and still can’t figure a way to do so. Hopefully the change via assistance from throughout the world can assist you all but isn’t that also rather dreary to reflect upon. Where’s my favorite poster, Griffin???

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