The people are the only thing that matters,” says agronomist Miguel Ángel Salcines, who then lists a series of other “secondary” factors that have turned Vivero Alamar an urban cooperative farm on Havana’s outskirts into a rare success story in Cuba’s depressed agricultural sector.

“We offer flexible hours, relatively high wages and professional upgrading among other benefits that make the co-op an attractive option. This is how we attract high quality human resources, which are crucial today in order to produce more organic food,” said Salcines, president of Vivero Alamar, where production has been chemical-free since 2000.

The co-op’s recipe for success also includes transparent accounting, equitable profit sharing, interest free loans for the workers, free lunches and support for women workers with young children or others in their care: they are allowed to arrive up to an hour later than the official beginning of the work day, at 7 a.m., Salcines said.

Human capital played a decisive role in raising production at this urban agriculture venture, founded in 1997 on an initial 800 sq meters of land in Alamar, 15 km east of downtown Havana.

This is why Salcines believes that the key to achieving food security in Cuba lies in agricultural workers with a “vocation” for farming, as well as training.

In 2012, world food prices skyrocketed as a result of poor crop yields in the United States and other centers of agricultural production. The Caribbean countries, which are net food importers, suffered the greatest impact in the region, says the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

Less than 5% of Cuba’s population suffers from malnutrition, but the country was forced to spend over $1.6 billion on food imports last year, an unsustainable expenditure for an economy in crisis for more than 20 years.

Reducing this massive expenditure by raising domestic food production remains a challenge for the Castro regime. In fact, in the first quarter of 2013, Cuba’s National Office of Statistics reported a 7.8% drop in agricultural production other than sugarcane.

“There’s a big demand that needs to be met, which is why we’re able to sell everything we grow,” said co-founder Salcines.

The co-op now covers 10 hectares and produces more than 230 crop varieties (primarily garden vegetables, as well as fruits, grains and tubers) in greenhouses and open fields.

In the midst of a generally inefficient agricultural sector, Vivero Alamar has achieved consistent growth for more than 15 years, thanks to the constant upgrading of its organic farming methods. That’s earned it praise from José Graziano da Silvam the director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, who visited the co-op in May.

In 2012, it produced 400 tons of vegetables, 5.5 tons of medicinal and spiritual plants used in religious rituals, 2.6 tons of dried herbs and spices, and 350 tons of worm manure.

It also produced 30,000 ornamental plant and fruit tree seedlings and three million vegetable seedlings, some for their own planting needs, others for sale to other farmers.

Fresh vegetables, especially lettuce, are the products most sought after by locals in Alamar, who have begun to learn in recent years like people in the rest of Cuba about the benefits of including more greens in the traditional Cuban diet of rice, beans, “viandas” (starchy tubers and plantain) and pork.

“The first time we planted cauliflower, in 2000, it all got left in the fields because nobody knew what it was,” said plant health engineer Norma Romero. In her view, one of the most important contributions made by the more than 33,000 urban and suburban farms in Cuba has been the expansion of access to and consumption of vegetables.

Thanks to a new initiative at Vivero Alamar, recipes for the preparation of different vegetables and mushrooms accompany the lists of products available at the coop’s sales outlet, as part of its business and educational strategy. The shelves also stock pickled vegetables, fruit preserves and garlic paste, produced through its own small industry sideline.

Although organic produce can be prohibitively costly in other countries, the organic fruits and vegetables sold by Vivero Alamar are actually priced lower than those produced with agrochemicals and sold in private farmers markets, where the prices are set in accordance with supply and demand.

“The affordable prices are the biggest attraction. A head of lettuce costs four pesos (5¢) here, and everywhere else they charge 10 pesos,” said customer Sonia Ricardo. “The vegetables here are fresh, they have no pesticides, and the service is really fast.”

Despite these low prices, the cooperative is able to earn good profits. Production chief Gonzálo González said 85% of its products are sold directly to the population, and the rest go to restaurants like La Bodeguita del Medio, a major Havana tourist attraction.

Since it first started out with just five people, Vivero Alamar has progressively moved towards a closed-loop farming system that reduces waste and environmental damage.

“We try to buy as few inputs from outside as possible,” said González. “That’s what led to the idea of producing our own manure and various bio-pesticides and fertilizers.”

Vivero Alamar raises bulls to obtain manure, has set up “worm bins” to produce earthworm castings, another organic fertilizer, and breeds mycorrhizal fungi (which attach themselves to the roots of plants and promote their growth) as well as insects and microorganisms that can boost crop yields naturally.

The co-op has also established links with 17 scientific centers for the incorporation of new organic farming techniques and products.

Today, the 149 men and 46 women who work here are striving to raise production by 40% to reach the farm’s full potential output.

They’ve also expanded into raising rabbits and sheep, in order to include meat in its sales to the public and improve protein consumption among the 30,000 nearby residents.

The staff 175 co-op members and 20 employees boasts a high overall level of education, with 92 university graduates and 42 technical college graduates.

“A farm can do much more than produce food,” said Salcines, as he watched a group of foreign tourists on a guided tour enjoy an organic lunch at Vivero Alamar.