Abstract
Cuba entered a crisis in 1989 when its trading arrangements with the USSR and Eastern Europe collapsed, Their supplies of imported staple food and agricultural input supplies were severely curtailed. Thus the Cubans had to alter both the methods of farming and the mix of items produced. Despite differences in historical setting, the changes forced upon the Cubans are similar to earlier agricultural changes in Mexico and India. Three themes unite events in the countries: (1) National leaders wishing to industrialize their countries found it necessary to have agricultural productivities higher than subsistence levels. (2) Foreign exchange shortages were a major factor in promoting more intensive agriculture, (3) Lack of food self-sufficiency in wartime was a serious threat to a nation's security. Both Mexico and India chose to promote innovations needed for more intensive agriculture, even when this policy conflicted with ideologies and programs of social equality and justice. Current disruptions in the Cuban economy suggest that Cubans, too, will be forced to confront the tension between equity and production in agriculture.
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John H. Perkins currently teaches environmental studies at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, and was formerly at Miami University in Ohio. He has published a number of articles plus a book (Insects, Experts, and the Insecticide Crisis, Plenum, 1982) on the history of American applied entomology. Currently he is working on a history of the green revolution in India, Mexico, the United States, and the United Kingdom. This article, plus an earlier one in Volume 7, are part of that project. He is a member of several environmental, scientific, and historical societies and currently serves as an Editorial Advisor forAgriculture and Human Values.
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Perkins, J.H. Cuba, Mexico, and India: Technical and social changes in agriculture during political economic crisis. Agric Hum Values 10, 75–90 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02217842
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02217842