As Cuba grapples with a severe food crisis, officials in Niceto Pérez, a municipality in the province of Guantánamo, are spearheading the "Cultivate Your Little Plot" movement. This initiative encourages families to utilize backyards, gardens, urban farms, and any available land for growing crops.
The movement, driven by the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), is part of the regime's Urban, Suburban, and Family Agriculture Program. It aims to ensure local self-sufficiency in producing vegetables, greens, tubers, fruits, spices, and short-cycle crops, according to a report from Radio Guantánamo on Friday.
The state-run media attributes the necessity of this movement to the "tightening of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States government on Cuba," while omitting internal factors that the regime itself has previously acknowledged as critical to the agricultural crisis.
Deepening Food Insecurity in Guantánamo
Guantánamo is one of the five Cuban provinces facing critical levels of food insecurity, as highlighted in an April report by the Food Monitor Program (FMP). The province's agricultural market, La Punta, which opened in April 2025 after an expensive renovation, was found almost empty just seven months later due to management failures, despite having numerous assigned suppliers.
The call to grow food at home is neither new nor unique to Guantánamo. It is a nationwide initiative repeated by the CDR during every crisis, from the pandemic to the present day.
National Agriculture Efforts Fall Short
Across Cuba, there are over 92,000 active gardens, with around 500,000 families participating in the Urban, Suburban, and Family Agriculture system, covering more than two million hectares. However, this has not reversed the agricultural collapse.
Between 2018 and 2023, pork production plummeted by 95%, rice by 87%, beans by 70%, and milk by 58%. Cuba imports 70% to 80% of its food, costing nearly two billion dollars annually, while the invasive marabou plant, a symbol of neglected farmland, covers between 1.1 and 1.7 million hectares of previously productive soil.
Government Acknowledgment and New Reforms
In June, Miguel Díaz-Canel acknowledged that "there are obstacles that do not come from outside or from blockades," citing bureaucracy and regulations as barriers to production. He declared food supply a "matter of national security."
In response, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz introduced a package of 176 reforms to the National Assembly, including agricultural reforms with indefinite land usufruct and price decentralization.
Meanwhile, a new Agricultural and Forestry Land Law, set to be discussed this month in parliament, would extend land usufruct to 25 renewable years and increase land allocations up to 67.10 hectares, consolidating more than 25 scattered legal provisions.
Economist Pedro Monreal described these reforms as "belated pragmatism," warning that Cuba "has missed the train of reforms seen in China and Vietnam." Former leader Raúl Castro emphasized that "as important as the approval of these transformations is their proper and timely implementation."
Understanding Cuba's Agricultural Crisis
What is the "Cultivate Your Little Plot" movement?
The "Cultivate Your Little Plot" movement is an initiative in Guantánamo encouraging families to grow food in backyards, gardens, and available spaces as a response to Cuba's food crisis.
Why is Guantánamo facing a food security crisis?
Guantánamo is experiencing critical food insecurity due to management failures, reliance on imports, and internal production issues, despite efforts to increase local agriculture.
How has Cuba's agricultural production changed since 2018?
Since 2018, Cuba's agricultural production has drastically decreased, with pork dropping by 95%, rice by 87%, beans by 70%, and milk by 58%.