Sustainable Development in the South
threats much faster and with much more accuracy; without harming the soil, the crops, or non-pest flora and fauna. The pesticide-pest approach offers a higher degree of precision to pests and conditions as it can be operated by relatively few researchers with a small (sometimes even mobile) laboratory, essentially abandoning the traditional, capital and labour intensive pesticide research. The Cuban crisis also presented the question of sustainable meat consumption to the Cuban government as well as to the Cuban society at large. With the agricultural sector under stress to alleviate domestic demand and declining resources for animal husbandry, Cuban agriculture was forced to scale down on its meat production, as it proved to give a low yield compared to the resources put into it. Faced with declining resources, it became important to find
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the most energy efficient meat sources, which led to a larger investment in energy efficient meats, such as pork and poultry, in favour of the energy intensive beef production. The extended Cuban crisis; the shift to a more sustainable development and an economy less dependent on import became known as the “Special Periodâ€? which lasted from 1991 to circa 1996. The Special Period, although putting the Cuban economy under great pressure, helped to create a platform for future sustainable development. The experience and the questions posed by it are - today more than ever - relevant to us, as it demonstrates that there are alternatives to the modern industrial petrochemical agricultural narratives.•