AP Human Geography — Elliot Yuda

Food
Insecurity
in Cuba

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01 — Overview

Introduction of Issue

Food insecurity is defined as a condition within a household that is low income and struggles to provide enough food for the people living there to survive comfortably and do basic physical activity like walking and running. There are two different types of food insecurity: low food security and very low food security. Very low food security is a more extreme lack of food.

Food insecurity can be influenced by income, employment, race/ethnicity, and disability. Another thing that increases risk of food insecurity is limited food in the markets. Ethnicity and race are correlated with food insecurity because minority groups tend to live in areas that have worse neighborhood conditions, lack of access to food, and a lack of transportation.

Food insecurity is a large problem because people living with a lack of food security tend to have negative health outcomes like obesity, cancer, diabetes, and more. In addition, children that are food insecure tend to develop worse mental health.

02 — The Situation

Case Study

Cuba has a lot of food insecurity for three main reasons. The first reason they are facing major food insecurity is a lack of fuel in the country to power safe food storage. Another reason they are food insecure is because their economy is collapsing. The lack of income that is normally gathered from tourists is decreasing because of less travel to the country. The last reason they are facing food insecurity is a lack of proper agricultural practices and tools.

The lack of fuel in Cuba causes major problems with food because of a lack of electric power in the country. The lack of power is making the food storage there not work and food already bought is spoiling much faster. The unstable economy affects Cuba's food insecurity because of their heavy reliance on imported food. Their economy is weak because of a lack of food to export and the inability to produce foreign currency which lowers trade opportunities. Another reason they are impacted by a struggling economy is the rise of inflation which raises food prices without raising income.

The last main reason that Cuba is food insecure is the lack of proper agricultural production. There is a lack of tools and fertilizers used in crops which causes lower production in harvests as well as large post-harvest losses of crops. In turn that causes a loss of food in the Cuban markets. Then the prices of items in the market rise which causes less people to buy it. They are also mainly focusing on trying to support dead land so they can keep farming there as well as providing food for the markets not exporting food for profit.

37.8%
of Cubans are food insecure

All of these factors combine to cause 37.8% of Cubans to be food insecure. They also have under the 5% growth needed for sustainable development into a socialist state.


Many Cuban adults' food satisfaction and food insecurity are related to their economic, cultural, and environmental surroundings. Cuba's level of food insecurity is significant enough to be a humanitarian crisis.

03 — What Has Been Tried

Past Solutions

There are many past solutions and funding programs that tried to help support Cuba and their issue with food insecurity.

Obama Administration — US–Cuba Diplomacy

The Obama administration restoring diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US worked for a while because it increased trade between the US and Cuba.

Outcome: Canceled by the Trump administration because of conflict with Cuba and neighboring countries like Venezuela.

UN World Food Programme

Provided programs in schools to feed kids and food baskets every month to Cuban families in need of food.

Outcome: Didn't work because the crisis with the markets not having enough food was still there and getting worse. Eventually the program wasn't able to keep up with demand and it ended.

Oxfam — "No More Blockade" Campaign

Fought back against Cuba's food shortages and political situation.

Outcome: Failed because its goal was to get the government to take action but they never did anything.

Care International

Helped to get women jobs to be able to purchase food and increased the number of people working on farms to produce more food.

Outcome: Didn't work because it didn't fix the problem of not having enough proper land to farm and not enough food in the markets to buy.

Barnabas Aid & Give2Cuba

Worked to distribute food products to Cuban citizens to help them with food insecurity.

Outcome: Failed because it did not address the overarching problems causing food insecurity in Cuba.

04 — A Path Forward

My Solution

My idea to solve food insecurity in Cuba relies on the Cuban government taking action to improve food production and reduce reliance on imported foods.

For my solution to work, the Cuban government would focus on getting tools and fertilizer to increase agricultural production in the country. Getting the proper tools and fertilizers will allow the citizens to have better harvests and more food brought into the markets to buy. This will lower the cost of food and more people will be able to buy it. This would also reduce the need to import as much food and improve food security because they won't have to rely on other countries.

This will also lead Cuba to become more independent which will allow them to grow their economy and support themselves. If they are able to support themselves then they will be able to provide food if there are import shortages. But to get these suplies and independance they will need to get help with funds from other countries worldwide.

This would be the best solution to the problem of food insecurity in Cuba because it would solve the problem where it's stemming from and it would increase Cuba's independence.

05 — Take Action

How to Help

There are also ways to help with this problem including fundraising and contributing to programs helping with the problem. These programs are a way that you and many others worldwide can help to support Cuba and their rise of agricultural practices, and providing their own food. There are three main fundraisers for the issues in Cuba.

Caribbean Agroecology Institute

Works to provide sustainable agri-food programs to countries in the Caribbean including Cuba and others.

Donate →

Let Cuba Live

An organization whose goal is to help provide solar panels and generators to Cuban hospitals to help counteract the loss of fuel in the country.

Donate →

CUSAN

A group that connects the people of Cuba and the US to create more food and farming systems that are ecologically resilient, economically fair, and socially just through using agroecology.

Donate →

06 — Sources

Citations