Menu

10/29/09 - Inter Press Service (Rome) - CUBA: Food Security Focus of New UN
Programmes

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Oct 29 (IPS) – Three new international cooperation agreements
channeled through the United Nations system in Cuba are aimed at
strengthening food security, especially in the poorest parts of the country.

”Thanks to the joint work of the international community, the United Nations
and the Cuban government, we have been able to provide more assistance in
such important areas as food,” the United Nations resident coordinator in
Cuba, Susan McDade, told IPS.

”Four years ago it would have been difficult to imagine this kind of
collaboration,” achieved by means of ”better coordination” among U.N.
agencies, which has made it possible to mobilise resources towards sectors
of development identified as priorities by Cuban officials, she said.

McDade, who is from Canada, said the three agreements involve a total of 35
million dollars for projects that will have an impact throughout the
country, but with an emphasis on the easternmost provinces that cover
one-third of the island.

That part of the country, which includes the cities of Las Tunas (662 km
east of Havana), Holguín (743 km), Granma (744 km), Santiago de Cuba (861
km) and Guantánamo (905 km), is the least developed part of the island, and
the consensus is that it must be given top priority in development aid
plans.

Many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adopted by the
international community at the U.N. general assembly in 2000, have been
achieved in Cuba, while others are on the way to being met, said McDade, who
is also the resident representative of the U.N. Development Programme
(UNDP).

But ”some eastern provinces and municipalities are not making the same
progress,” she pointed out.

A study by the National Statistics Office (ONE) on progress towards the MDGs
in eastern Cuba made it possible for U.N. agencies and local authorities to
identify which areas should be especially targeted in development efforts,
including maternal health programmes, promoting greater access to food, and
defence of the environment.

Some of the problems in eastern Cuba are caused by the lack of a habit of
eating vegetables rich in micronutrients and iron, shortages in protein,
especially among the lowest-income sectors, and a higher teen pregnancy
rate.

Studies show there is no ”chronic hunger” in Cuba, although there are
certain levels of anemia and scarcity of micronutrients in some segments of
the population, especially children under two, young mothers, nursing
mothers and people with chronic health problems.

The eight MDGs set a 2015 deadline for halving extreme poverty and hunger
rates from 1990 levels, achieving universal primary education, promoting
gender equality and maternal health, reducing child mortality, combating
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability,
and developing a global partnership for development.

Fighting anemia

The first of the programmes mentioned by McDade, which will involve 8.5
million dollars in aid, is focused on ”support for the fight against anemia
in disadvantaged groups in Cuba,” which will directly benefit the 24 poorest
municipalities in the five eastern provinces and the western province of
Pinar del Río.

That initiative will provide financing for a dairy company in Pinar del Río
to expand production in order to make an iron-fortified porridge which
includes milk, to be provided to children between the ages of six months and
five years, pregnant women, and other people facing a risk of anemia.

Boosting decentralisation in the countryside

The second project, called ”support for new decentralisation initiatives and
production stimulation in Cuba,” will include seven million dollars in aid
to bolster the participation of the small private sector as a dynamic agent
in local development. Individual producers and cooperatives from five
municipalities in five different provinces will be the beneficiaries.

”This programme is aimed at promoting decentralisation in agriculture, in
line with the government’s new policy of promoting economic activities that
contribute to import substitution,” said McDade, who added that small
farmers involved in the programme will be provided with tools, credits and
facilities for repairing tractors, among other services.

Both initiatives will be partly financed by the MDG Achievement Fund
(MDG-F), whose main donor is Spain.

The MDG-F is a U.N. instrument that backs up national efforts to meet the
MDGs, fight inequality and increase active participation by civil society in
social and economic development.

Diversification of agriculture

The third agreement mentioned by the U.N. resident coordinator will involve
20 million dollars in aid from the European Commission, channeled through
the UNDP, up to Sept. 30, 2011, with the aim of diversifying agriculture.

The plan is to strengthen local food production capacity, while improving
farm management and the availability of local produce in 27 selected
municipalities. In addition, efforts will be made to improve quality and
quantity of skilled farmers in another 10 municipalities.

The government of Raúl Castro has made the recovery and increased efficiency
of the agriculture sector, whose difficulties were aggravated by the damages
caused by three hurricanes last year, one of the top priorities of his
government.

The total economic losses caused by the hurricanes were estimated at 10
billion dollars.

The U.N. system worked hard to mobilise international humanitarian support
to help this Caribbean island nation get back on its feet in the wake of the
hurricanes. McDade, however, whose nearly four- year stint in Havana is
coming to an end, says this is one of the pending challenges.

”Although we all hope that Cuba will never again be whipped by three
hurricanes in one month, we can imagine that it will continue to be
vulnerable to such disasters. Looking towards the future, the United Nations
has to perfect its capacity to mobilise more swiftly on such occasions,” she
said.

Cuba as well as other nations in the region ”are facing tremendous
challenges caused by climate change and its effects,” said McDade. ”In my
four years here, we have had equally serious problems of flooding and
drought in the eastern region; I saw both extremes.”

She said the main climate change-related challenge facing Cuba is designing
an adaptation plan, which involves rational, sustainable use and management
of resources and the inclusion of environmental considerations in economic
planning, among other aspects.

”The key question here and in any country is that the plans are drawn up at
a national level, but the implementation takes place at a local level, which
means close coordination between central and local bodies is required. I
believe Cuba has the capacity to do this, but it is an area where the U.N.
system would like to work more in the future,” the U.N. official said.

U.N. cooperation in Cuba covers programmes and projects in areas of local
human development, natural disasters and risks, the environment and energy,
health and food security, all of which are in line with priorities
identified by the government.

This year McDade will finish her mission in Havana, where she was posted in
February 2006, and will travel to Uruguay to head the U.N. system in that
South American country.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2009.