[Assam] Self Reliant Economy-- "Produce what you need to consume--.Consume only what you produced--"

[mc mahant]

--- early 1990, a survival economy was put in place as 100 000 tons of wheat normally obtained through barter arrangements failed to arrive and the government had to use scarce hard currency to import grain from Canada [1]. The price of food went up and bread had to be rationed. Overall, food consumption was said to decrease by 20 percent in calories and 27 percent in protein between 1989 and 1992.
To make matters worse, Cuba’s efforts to reverse the trend of rural-urban migration over the past decades failed to stem the increasing tides of rural migrants to the cities, especially to Havana. In  1994, 16 541 migrated to Havana from all over Cuba, more than any year since 1963. By 1996, the figure had reached 28 193, at pre-revolution level. Shortages of food and medicine and gasoline were driving people to the capital.  
Policies to stop the inflow were put in place in 1997, but not before the population density in the capital reached 3 000 inhabitants per square kilometre. (Guwahati today is 30,000/sq.km)
Cuba was faced with a dual challenge of doubling food production with half the previous inputs, with some 74 percent of its population living in cities. Yet by 1997, Cubans were eating almost as well as they did before 1989, with little food and agrochemicals imported. Instead, Cuba concentrated on creating a more self-reliant agriculture: a combination of  higher crop prices paid to farmers, agroecological technology, smaller production units, and most importantly, urban agriculture. Urbanisation is a growing trend worldwide. More people now live in cities than in the countryside. By 2015 about 26 cities in the world are expected to have populations of 10 million or more. To feed cities of this size require at least 6 000 tons of food a day [1].
mm
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