Guantanamo.- The agroecological farms in Cuba’s easternmost province aim to sustainably produce food. This project promotes the application of scientific results to local production practices, experiences that are shared in this territory.
The proliferation of environmentally friendly practices for soil improvement and healthy food production is currently one of the priorities of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP, in Spanish), in Guantánamo Province, which promotes the agroecological movement among their members, according to the specialist Jorge González.
He explains that of the 13,000 producers of ANAP membership in Guantánamo, both located in Credit and Services Cooperative (CCS) and Agricultural Production Cooperative (CPA), they currently have 155 agroecological farms. The provincial agroecology event will be held on the 23rd of August, when they will present 21 projects. The event will be held in three stages.
“We’re planning to hold it in the CCS Mariana Grajales, that is, on the farms bordering the municipalities of El Salvador and Guantánamo. On the 25th, we plan to hold it in San Antonio del Sur,” he said.
Jorge González also explains that on May 17th and 27th next year, they will hold the provincial agroecology event in the municipality of Baracoa, which also comprises Maisí. These three stages will allow us to distribute and gather the largest possible number of producers and officials within the agroecological movement.
Through the use of agroecological practices, the producers can recover the soil and subsoils that have already deteriorated due to indiscriminate exploitation. By properly preparing the land without inverting the prism.
For good practice of agroecology, the Guantanamo farmers plant contour crops in areas with slopes and other areas, contribute to creating living or dead barriers to prevent soil runoff and maintain the subsoil for crops.
The impossibility of importing chemical fertilizers and pesticides due to the US blockade on Cuba, it prevents ANAP’s farmers from obtaining sufficient volumes of food in the short term, however it forces producers to implement agroecological crop management, which improves soil and the environment, in addition to obtaining healthy products to improve the population’s quality of life.
