After the 1959 Revolution, the US embargo forced Cuba to turn to the socialist bloc, which offered more favorable terms of trade thus opening the possibility of more rapid development and accumulation on the island than in the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean. But given this dependence, the 1989-1990 collapse of trade relations with former socialist bloc countries plunged Cuba into an economic and food crisis. Pesticide imports dropped by more than 60%, fertilizers by 77% and petroleum for agriculture by 50%. Suddenly, a modernized, industrialized, and high input agricultural system was faced with a tremendous challenge: the need to double food production and reduce inputs by half and at the same time maintain food security and export crop production so as not to further erode the country’s desperate foreign exchange situation.

Since 1989, the Cuban government adopted a policy to promote a new science of agriculture more in tune with the scarce resources and the need food self-sufficiency. Biologically based or derived fertilizers and biological control of pests have been at the heart of this new quest for biologically sophisticated management of agroecosystems. One of the keys to Cuba’s new model of agriculture is to find ways to reduce chemical use for management of plant diseases, insect pests, and weeds, and to reduce the need for chemical fertilizers is through production of biopesticides and biofertilizers³.

The Asociación Cubana de Agricultura Orgánica (ACAO), a non-governmental organization formed by scientists, farmers and extension personnel, has played a pioneering role in Cuba in advancing alternative agriculture through training, research, and demonstration efforts. It is because of ACAO's key role that it became the organization leading the SANE initiative in the island.

SANE initiated its activities in Cuba at the end of 1994, after the signing of a contract between UNDP and ACAO in Havana, and the nomination of the technical team in charge of carrying out the various activities as well as the selection of the work areas. Main activities promoted included the establishment of farm model lighthouses and agroecology training and information dissemination activities.

In 1995, the establishment of three agroecological lighthouses was conducted in three agricultural cooperatives (CPAs) in the municipalities of San Antonio de Los Baños and Batabanó. The design and goals of lighthouses were established during a participatory workshop conducted jointly by the SANE technical team and the farmers of each cooperative. The information obtained from the workshops and later from field surveys was utilized to elaborate a plan for the agroecological lighthouses or integrated production modules in part of the cooperative. The lighthouses or modules would serve as a model for the rest of the cooperative and for the overall peasant movement of the region.

After only six months of project initiation, all CPAs exhibited various levels of incorporation of a number of agroecological innovations which, with time, have led to enhancement of production and biodiversity, improvement in soil quality, especially organic matter content. Table 2 shows the degree of adoption of various agroecological technologies after 2 years of project initiation. It is obvious that the three cooperatives vary in their degree of adoption and also in the stage of the conversion process at which that they find themselves.

During the conversion process, productivity has tended to increase in the lighthouses and in many cases after only two years, yields have out-performed those observed in the rest of the CPAs. A key agroecological strategy in the diversification of modules has been the use of polycultures and as shown in Table 3, several polycultures have been tested in the CPAs. Productivity evaluation of various polycultures indicates good agronomic performance as expressed by field measured LER values higher than one².

Green manures have also become key components of the lighthouse rotations. Outstanding legume species include Crotalaria juncea, Canavalia ensiformis, Mucuna aterrimum, Vigna unguiculata, Sesbania rostrata and Dolichos lablab. The use of C. juncea and U. unguiculata as green manure ensured a production of squash equivalent to that obtainable applying 175 kg/ha of urea. In addition, such legumes improved the physical and chemical characteristics of the soil. Insect pest and disease problems were minimal in all crops, probably as a consequence of the effects of the rotations and due to the higher presence of beneficial arthropods and antagonists. Occasionally, the microbial insecticide Beauvaria bassiana had to be applied in sweet potatoes to control the weevil Cylas formicarius. On very few occasions, applications of Bacillus thuringiensis were used against Spodoptera furgiperda in corn. Fortunately, both microbials are available from local biofactories at very low prices.

At the Instituto de Investigaciones de Pastos, several agroecological modules with various proportions of the farm area devoted to agriculture and animal production were established (75% pasture - 25% crop area; 50-50%; 60-40% and 25-75% respectively), some of them with more than two years of existence. The design of a 1 ha module with 75-25% is depicted in Figure 3. As observed, this module has several components and areas:

1. Agricultural production subsystem:

• areas of crop rotation
• areas of permanent or perennial crops
• areas for vegetables

1. Animal production subsystem:

• silvopastoral area
• area for grazing
• area for forages
• protein bank area
• area for small animals

Monitoring of production and efficiencies of the 75/25 module reveals that total production increases with time, and the energy and labor inputs decrease as the biological structuring of the system starts to sponsor the productivity of the agroecosystem. For example, total biomass increased from 4.4 to 5.1 t/ha after 2 years of integrated management. Energy inputs necessary to achieve such productivity decreased which resulted in enhanced energy efficiency (from 4.4 to 9.5) after two years (Table 4). Human labor demands for management also decreased with time and during the 3rd year of module establishment they remain somewhat constant around 5 hours per day as opposed to 10-13 labor hours needed during the first year (Figure 4).

The encouraging results from the field lighthouse activities proved key to feeding the training programs that ACAO has established throughout the island, including a long distance course and a series of workshops on agroecology. ACAO also took very seriously the challenge of disseminating information despite the difficult transportation situation facing the island. The translation and publication of several agroecology books, the editing and production of the magazine Agricultura Orgánica and the operationalization of a mobile library that circulated through the country, were also important in making agroecological information accessible to hundreds of technicians and farmers. Also, ACAO held two national conferences on organic agriculture organized in 1995 and 1997, in which hundreds of Cuban and foreign delegates were able to reflect together on the challenges of sustainable agriculture in Cuba and worldwide.