I believe at one time they had Israeli advisors, at the beginning. Not totally informed on that, as it was long ago.
They are knowns as "organiponicos," (organic gardening) and the Cubans have developed unbelievable methods they've been sharing with others. There's a ton of information available for any search.
Here's what it looks like in Caracas, near a hotel:
More photos:
Urban Gardens of Caracas, Venezuela - Swords Into Ploughshares
http://www.cityfarmer.org/caracas.htmlVideo:
http://technorati.com/videos/youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D_xYXJl7D1zwFeeding Ourselves: Organic Urban Gardens in Caracas, Venezuela
Written by April M. Howard
Thursday, 10 August 2006
In the middle of the modern, concrete city of Caracas, Venezuela, Noralí Verenzuela is standing in a garden dressed in jeans and work boots. She is the director of the Organopónico Bolivar I, the first urban, organic garden to show its green face in the heart of the city of Caracas, Venezuela.
One afternoon while international crowds swarmed the city for the World Social Forum, I visited the "organoponic" garden to talk with Verenzuela about the garden’s place in the city and Venezuelan politics. To Verenzuela, the garden represents a shift in the ways that Venezuelans get their food. "People are waking up," she told the press. "We've been dependent on McDonald's and Wendy's for so long. Now people are learning to eat what we can produce ourselves."<[1>]
Busy commuters might miss the corner of green between busy sidewalks at the Bellas Artes metro stop and the shiny skyscrapers of the Caracas Hilton. Still, if you pass by several times, your eye might wander toward the color of plants in the otherwise concrete city. At the edge of the garden, a squat concrete shed has a window onto the sidewalk. Inside, shelves display bunches of lettuce and carrots for sale to the public at much cheaper prices than found in the grocery stores.
This 1.2-acre plot tucked into what was an empty lot is part of a plan led by the government of President Hugo Chavez to shift the Venezuelan economy toward what it calls "endogenous development." Defined by its roots, the word "endogenous" means "inwardly creating," which is what the leaders of the Bolivarian Revolution would like to make the economy of Venezuela.
More:
http://towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/869/http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com.nyud.net:8090/images/2008/06/04/image4154687g.jpg http://static.guim.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/sys-images/Environment/Pix/pictures/2008/04/04/Organoponico460.jpg
Cuba