FAO.org

In recent years food production in small areas with a broad sense of food self-sufficiency has been developing with increasing intensity, and has been given different names: backyard agriculture, sustainable small-scale agriculture, urban and suburban agriculture (peri-urban), sustainable agriculture, and family farming, among others. In some countries of the Latin America and the Caribbean region, family farming can represent more than 80% of agricultural exports, over 60% of food production and 70% of agricultural employment, according to information provided by the FAO Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean.
In Cuba, food-producing families in urban, suburban and rural environments prioritize the production of seeds, organic fertilizers, efficient water management and agro-ecological pest control, directing actions towards the sustainability of production systems and self-sufficiency of production and food.

With popular family participation and home micro-gardens and courtyards, which account for 491 731 units, involving about one million people and more than 150 000 families in rural areas, they are the most important forms of family farming in Cuba.

Since families in different production areas have been linked, the interrelationship of agricultural livestock and support subprograms has been achieved, seeking integration as an essential element in achieving multidisciplinary approaches, increasing the sustainability of production processes.

Family farming has played a key role in the maintenance and development of biodiversity and work with over 650 plant species, including many endemic or typical of certain areas or agro-ecological niches. Besides its importance as a provider of food for both cities and rural areas, agriculture is generating jobs and sources of income,; family farming contributes to the balanced development of regions and rural communities.

Family agriculture in Cuba has been fully developed in the urban environment and its periphery through the “Programa Nacional de la Agricultura Urbana, Suburbana y Familiar”, together with the “Programa Campesino a Campesino”, developed through ANAP (Asociación Nacional de Agricultores Pequeños) with the realization of actions aimed at food production and the application of technologies that ensure the closure of production cycles, food safety and environmental conservation, recovery of traditions, progress towards gender equality and food security.

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