Assignment 1: What Is Developing Cuba?
8/14/13
Anth 110
The Developing Cuba
There are two crucial items that allow human beings to survive and those are water and food. Water may seem like the more important item, however, food will be emphasized throughout this paper because people have got to eat! If people aren’t eating or don’t have access to retrieve food in their country, then there is something terribly wrong. An individual could split the food issue going on in a specific country into two categories: food security and sovereignty. Food security occurs when people are allowed access of food that is safe and nutritious towards their own personal preferences so that they can live a healthy, happy life. On the other hand, food sovereignty exists when people have the …show more content…
A country that is located in the northern Caribbean Sea, contains a population of about 11 million people. That is a larger number for such a relatively small island which could be one of the reasons why food is such an issue. Cuba also imports about 80% of its domestic requirements and the majority of imports come from Canada which was 60% in 2009. One of Cuba’s bigger exports is sugar cane which causes a problem because most of the crop lands in the country are devoted to sugar cane. This shows the impact of the government putting the country’s economy and financial status in front of the starving people living in Cuba who help maintain and distribute the sugar cane. Food sovereignty is the issue in this case because the country is not putting the people who distribute and produce the export at the heart of the food system but just those countries who …show more content…
The effects of the U.S embargo and Russia cutting off any economic support really took a toll on the Cuban economy (Rodriguez). This led to the country having to discover resources and other countries to receive imports from. Then the serious issue of nutrition took a huge jump in the population especially with pregnant women and the children. It is really sad that pregnant women were suffering more than the men in the country but that is just how it works in a male dominated society. However, the Department of Health did take a huge step by creating a special nutritional plan for pregnant women. This gave these women a special certificate that verified their pregnancy which them allowed them obtain certain food supplies such as milk, meats, fowl, and also vegetables. What made this even better was that the medical centers in Cuba constantly monitored the weight of these pregnant women and if they ever showed underweight, then they were immediately hospitalized in a nutrition ward until they gained that weight once again. This shows great strides for Cuba because it shows that they are trying to help out the community but more importantly the
Anth 110
The Developing Cuba
There are two crucial items that allow human beings to survive and those are water and food. Water may seem like the more important item, however, food will be emphasized throughout this paper because people have got to eat! If people aren’t eating or don’t have access to retrieve food in their country, then there is something terribly wrong. An individual could split the food issue going on in a specific country into two categories: food security and sovereignty. Food security occurs when people are allowed access of food that is safe and nutritious towards their own personal preferences so that they can live a healthy, happy life. On the other hand, food sovereignty exists when people have the …show more content…
A country that is located in the northern Caribbean Sea, contains a population of about 11 million people. That is a larger number for such a relatively small island which could be one of the reasons why food is such an issue. Cuba also imports about 80% of its domestic requirements and the majority of imports come from Canada which was 60% in 2009. One of Cuba’s bigger exports is sugar cane which causes a problem because most of the crop lands in the country are devoted to sugar cane. This shows the impact of the government putting the country’s economy and financial status in front of the starving people living in Cuba who help maintain and distribute the sugar cane. Food sovereignty is the issue in this case because the country is not putting the people who distribute and produce the export at the heart of the food system but just those countries who …show more content…
The effects of the U.S embargo and Russia cutting off any economic support really took a toll on the Cuban economy (Rodriguez). This led to the country having to discover resources and other countries to receive imports from. Then the serious issue of nutrition took a huge jump in the population especially with pregnant women and the children. It is really sad that pregnant women were suffering more than the men in the country but that is just how it works in a male dominated society. However, the Department of Health did take a huge step by creating a special nutritional plan for pregnant women. This gave these women a special certificate that verified their pregnancy which them allowed them obtain certain food supplies such as milk, meats, fowl, and also vegetables. What made this even better was that the medical centers in Cuba constantly monitored the weight of these pregnant women and if they ever showed underweight, then they were immediately hospitalized in a nutrition ward until they gained that weight once again. This shows great strides for Cuba because it shows that they are trying to help out the community but more importantly the