October 7, 1999

STOCKHOLM and OAKLAND: The Grupo de Agricultura Organica (GAO), the Cuban organic farming association, which has been at the forefront of the country's transition from industrial to organic agriculture, was named as winner of a major international prize--the Right Livelihood Award--commonly known as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize.'

The Grupo de Agricultura Organica is one of four winners of the 1999 Right Livelihood Award, chosen from more than 80 candidates from 40 countries. GAO brings together farmers, farm managers, field experts, researchers, and government officials to develop and promote organic farming methods. Its aim is to convince Cuban farmers and policy-makers that the country's previous high-input farming model was too import-dependent and environmentally damaging to be sustainable, and that the organic alternative has the potential to achieve equally good yields.

"This award is truely an honor for Cuba, for GAO, and for all the farmers, researchers, and policy makers who have struggled to make organic farming work in Cuba," said Dr. Fernado Funes Aguilar, President of GAO. "We hope that our efforts will demonstrate to other countries that conventional chemically-dependent agriculture is not the only way to feed a country." During the 1990s Cuba overcame a severe food shortage caused by the collapse of its trade relations with the former Soviet-bloc and the on-going U.S. trade embargo. Self-reliant organic farming played a significant role in overcoming the crisis.

GAO was founded in 1993 as the Asociaci[n Cubana de Agricultura Organica (ACAO), but recently changed its name when it was legally incorporated as part of the cuban Association of Agricultural and Forest Technicians (ACTAF). Over the past five years it has built up an impresive program of lobbying, training courses, workshops, documentation centers, demonstration farms, and exchange visits for farmers, and has held three international conferences.

"I hope this award will awaken the world to the amazing achievements Cuba has made in organic farming and food security", said Martin Bourque, Sustainable Agriculture Program Director of Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy. "Through their hard work,innovation, and scientific excellence, GAO and the whole Cuban agricultural sector have demonstrated that low-input sustainable agriculture can work on a national scale." Food First has had a scientific and technical exchange program with GAO, and will co-sponsor GAO's Fourth National Encounter on Organic Agriculture in May of the year 2000.

GAO is the first Cuban winner of the Right Livelihood Award. It shares the prize money of SEK 1,800,000 (approximately USD 225,000) with a Colombian network, Consolidation of the Amazon Region (COAMA), working for indigenous rights and biodiversity, and with Chilean-Spanish lawyer Juan Garces, who is honored for his untiring efforts over many years to bring the former Chilean dictator, General Pinochet, to justice. One of the world's leading promoters of solar energy, Hermann Scheer, receives an honorary award.

The prizes will be presented at a ceremony in the Swedish Parliament on December 9, the day before the conventional Nobel Prizes. Founded in 1980, the Right Livelihood Award has honored more than 80 outstanding individuals and organizations for work contributing to a better future for the world.

Peter Rosset, executive director of Food First, said: "This award shows the enormous potential of sustainable agriculture, so underexploited in other countries. The whole world should learn from Cuba." Dr. Rosset went on to say that "in Cuba, organic is for everyone, not just for those who can afford it."

For more information on GAO or Food First, you can contact Food First staffmembers who are available for comment, and access the following website: www.foodfirst.org/progs/global/cuba

Also visit:

Grupo de Agricultura Orgánica (GAO)
Tulipn 1011 e/Loma y 47
Apdo. Postal 6236C
Código Postal 10600, Nuevo Vedado
Ciudad de La Habana
CUBA
Phone: +53 7 845 387
Fax: +53 7 845 387
Email: actaf@minag.gov.cu

Right Livelihood Award Administrative Office
P.O. Box 15072
S-104 65 Stockholm
SWEDEN
Tel: +46 (0) 8 702 03 40
Fax: +46 (0) 8 702 03 38
E-Mail: info@rightlivelihood.se

Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy
398 60th Street
Oakland, CA 94618
USA
Phone: (510) 654-4400
Fax: (510) 654-4551
Email: foodfirst@foodfirst.org