La Picadora: A Case Study in Cuban Agroecotourism

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/intejcubastud.13.1.0008
• Pages: 5-7
• Published date: 01 July 2021
• Date: 01 July 2021
• Author: Krystyn R. Moon,Jennifer Rhode Ward,José Vazquez Rodriguez,Jorge Foyo
• Subject Matter: Cuba,organic,agriculture,foodways,identity,culture

InternatIonal Journal of Cuban StudIeS 13.1 Summer 2021

ACADEMIC ARTICLE

LA PICADORA: A CASE STUDY IN CUBAN

AGROECOTOURISM

Krystyn R. Moon

University of Mary Washington, Virginia

Jennifer Rhode Ward

University of North Carolina Asheville

José Vazquez Rodriguez

Centro de Investigaciones Marinas, Universidad de Habana, Havana

Jorge Foyo

Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICIMAR), Havana

Krystyn R. Moon is a full professor in the Department of History and American Studies at the

University of Mary Washington. Her teaching and research focus on the United States in the

19th and 20th centuries, including foodways, critical race theory and public history.

Jennifer Rhode Ward is a full professor in the Biology Department at the University of North

Carolina Asheville. There, she is a member of the Sustainability Committee and helped

develop the college’s Sustainability Certificate and related curricula.

José Vazquez Rodriguez is senior faculty in the Centro de Investigaciones Marinas at the

Universidad de Habana. His scholarly work has included an emphasis on environmental

sustainability, “sun and beach” tourism and freshwater fisheries.

Jorge Foyo is an emeritus faculty from the Departamento de Geología at the Instituto de Ciencias

del Mar. His work has included a focus on environmental sustainability and marine environments.

Abstract

Agroecotourism is growing worldwide, with a Latin American focus on both cultural

and environmental sustainability. In this case study, the authors immersed themselves

in the seven-year-old agroecotourism venture of La Picadora, living among neighbours

and conducting formal interviews with 14 persons to learn about agricultural practices,

LA PICADORA 9

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hosting approaches, and the effects of tourism on life at La Picadora. Results showed a

community practising and committed to sustainable use of land and human resources,

and revealed agricultural practices typical of broader Cuba. Foods served to tourists

reflected a combination of Cuban tradition and ingredient availability. Residents

noted cultural and monetary benefits of welcoming tourists to their communities. In

conclusion, the La Picadora collective is a microcosm of sustainable tourism, affecting

and affected by broader socioeconomic forces. It is likely that this early agroecotourism

adopter will become a model for other Cuban visitor hubs operating outside traditional

beach-based ventures.

Keywords: Cuba, organic, agriculture, foodways, identity, culture

Introduction

At the 20th century’s end, the tourism industry acknowledged that awareness of

mechanized food systems, environmental degradation, and labour exploitation

was growing (Clarke 1997). In response, some providers began offering less

industrialized and more sustainable experiences. The World Conservation Union

defined this new form of tourism, ecotourism, as one that “has low negative visi-

tor impact, and provides for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of

local populations” (Ceballos-Lascuráin 2003: p. x). Agroecotourism, an off-

shoot of ecotourism, is a grassroots movement that emphasises sustainable farm-

ing for “job creation, education and capacity-building, community involvement,

business viability, a more even distribution of revenue streams, sustainable sup-

ply chain lineages, habitat restoration, carbon sequestration, and a decrease in

agrochemical use” (Cavaliere 2010: 34). Agroecotourism communities teach

visitors about the importance of low-petroleum, small-scale and environmen-

tally attuned farming (e.g. Rogerson 2012; Addinsall et al. 2017) and foodways

(e.g. Sims 2009) while maintaining their social and cultural traditions (e.g.

Johnson et al. 2016). In Latin America, agroecotourism is most common in rural

communities, and specifically aims to establish connections between natural and

cultural sustainability (Ramírez Castellanos 2014).

In the Latin American nation of Cuba, overall tourism rates as well as agro-

ecotourism experiences are expanding. The nation saw little overall tourism

from the 1959 Cuban Revolution (Revolución Cubana) until the 1990s, when

the national government centred its economic platform on initiatives including

attracting foreign visitors (Gutiérrez Castillo and Gancedo Gaspar 2002). From

1995 to 2012, the number of international tourists increased 279% (Duffy et al.

2017: 5), and Cuban tourism growth exceeded global rates (Rutty and

10 ACADEMIC ARTICLE – MOON ET AL.

InternatIonal Journal of Cuban StudIeS 13.1 Summer 2021

Richardson 2019: 3340). The 1997 Cuban Economic Resolution primarily pro-

moted heritage and “sun, sand, and sea” activities for international visitors

(Calderón García et al. 2003; Carty 2009), and while most visitors came from

Canada and western Europe, US tourism also rose; this might have been in

response to targeted marketing attempts (Kendrick et al. 2015). Scholars note

that foreign tourists, especially Americans, hold stereotyped views of Cuba

which are often reinforced through state-generated programming (Babb 2011;

Kozak 2016; Látková and Wilson 2016; Látková et al. 2017; Zhang et al.

2018). Foreign tourists also tend to pursue experiences that reify a static notion

of Cuban identity (Bacsán 2019).

The dissolution of the Soviet Union and loss of Cuba’s principal trading part-

ner drove the government to explore economic alternatives during what became

known as the Special Period in Peacetime (colloquially, el tiempo de los flacos –

the skinny period) (Kruijt 2019). Interestingly, the issue of agricultural diversifi-

cation has a long history in Cuba. Since the 1790s, Spanish government officials

had recommended decreasing sugar production in order to make sure that island

residents had more local access to food and did not have to rely extensively on

imports (Benjamin et al. 1984: 121). By the 1970s and 1980s, the Cuban govern-

ment had created a highly mechanised sugar industry reliant on Soviet imports.

More than 50% of Cuba’s energy, fertilisers, herbicides and livestock feed con-

centrates were imported, and in exchange Cuban sugar was exported to Soviet

bloc countries at inflated prices to undergird Cuba’s financial stability (Funes-

Monzote 2010: 17). By the early 1990s sugar, along with tobacco and citrus,

covered 50% of all Cuban agricultural lands (Funes-Monzote 2010: 18). The

Soviet Union’s collapse led to a 70% drop in fertiliser availability and 50%

reduction in pesticide and petroleum imports to Cuba (Rosset and Benjamin

1994: 21; Pérez and Vazquez 2002: 136). In addition, animal feed components,

of which 60–93% were imported, nearly disappeared (Nova 2002: 34). This

might have been less disruptive for small or medium farms run by campesinos

(12% of Cuban agricultural land at the time), which already utilised polyculture

and more sustainable practices, but it caused nationwide agricultural upheaval

(Álvarez 2002: 87–8; Funes-Monzote 2010: 226). Changes in import availability

helped trigger the adoption or spread of sustainable agricultural practices among

Cuban farmers (Funes-Monzote 2010: 206–7). First, lands that had previously

grown exported monocultures like coffee and sugar were converted into com-

munity farms. Next, cities modified open spaces for organipónicos (urban farms)

to produce fresh fruit and vegetables for local residents. Finally, Cuban research-

ers focused on agricultural approaches using compost, biocontrols and low-

petroleum methods of working the land, and shared results with farmers (Funes

Aguilar 2017: 9–10).