A mini industry called Los Placeres del Campo is working in the farm Las Piedras, of the Credit and Services Cooperative (CCS) Efraín Mayor in the municipality of Guanabacoa in Havana.

Tribuna de La Habana newspaper informs that the new installation was opened in the last hours. It is in charge of producing canned fruits and vegetables from the local raw material and has also created well paid jobs for women.  

 Representatives of the authorities of Guanabacoa, representatives of the United Nations Program for Development, the Embassy of Italy, the Netherland Agency for Development and Cooperation (Cosude), The Italian Agency for Development and Cooperation (AICS), were present in the opening ceremony of the first phase.

The resident representative of the United Nations Program for Development (PNUD) in Cuba, Maribel Gutiérrez; the Italian Ambassador, Roberto Vellano; the director of the Switzerland Agency for Development and Cooperation (Cosude), Peter Tschumi; the director of the Italian Agency of Cooperation for the Development (AICS) in Cuba, Antonio Festa and Annia Lemus Prieto, president of the government of Guanabacoa, were also present in the opening ceremony.

This media says that in the ceremony and exchange of experiences with Ana Margarita González, president of the CCS, and Alexander Alfonso Silva, producer of Las Piedras, a delegation of AICS Rome took part, which involved Giuseppe Cerasoli and Francesco Di Iono, administrative vice-director and y   the College of Revisers, respectively.

The Ambassador of Italy, Roberto Vellano, talked about the priorities of the cooperation of his country with Cuba. Photo: Raquel Sierra

He notifies that the plant is the result of the international cooperation, in the frame of the Articulated Platform for the Integral Territorial Development (PADIT), which is financed by the Italian and Switzerland Cooperation, with the support of the United Nations Program for Development (PNUD) in Cuba, and by the Program of food supply and development of sustainable economic initiatives in Havana (HAB.AMA), financed by the Italian Cooperation Agency for Development (AICS).

The project securing was supported by the government of Havana and of the municipality of Guanabacoa, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Institute for tropical fruit growing research (IIFT) as the main opposing party of HAB.AMA.

Regarding the origin of the mini- industry, the resident representative of PNUD in Cuba, Maribel Gutiérrez, explained how part of the plan of the Organization of the United Nations System to support the socio-economic recovery after the back ward step that COVID-19 was, with the alliance of AICS and Cosude directed funds to the initiative. This is what our cooperation is about, in linking wills and capacities and work with producers, hand to hand, " who show an example of the way in which Cuba, with few resources, manages to go ahead, although   adversities".

Gutiérrez made reference to the role of the Articulated Platform for the Integral Territorial Development (PADIT) to articulate the development where it just should ocured.

Roberto Vellano, the Ambassador of Italy in Cuba, showed his satisfaction to watch in the field, one of the projects his country supports and see the results. He stated that HAB. AMA is the biggest program as an investment of the Italian cooperation in Cuba, which benefits several municipalities in the capital.

 "It is a priority for our cooperation, to support the production of food, in this case, fruits and vegetables for the local markets; in fact, the main priority, together with the support of the local government and the sector of cultural heritage".

Vellano commented that the bilateral program involves 16 projects in the whole country, of around 28 million euros and was renewed last January during the visit of the Italian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, who besides having a political dialogue allows to sign the continuation of the cooperation and collaboration.

The director of the Switzerland Agency for the Development and Copperation (Cosude), Peter Tschumi, mentioned the importance for the institutions to have platforms such as PADIT with national implications.

He said "With this cooperative, a positive example that can be multiplied in the región and nanationaly, will be given", and wished the canned fruits and vegetables are in the market very soon, to improve the nutrition of the Cuban population and assure a valuable chain and maybe they will take part in the First local development show, to be held at the end of the month.   

According to the president of the CCS that groups 70 producers and 26 farms, the plant will process products harvested in Las Piedras and in other farms like la Efraín Mayor, as well as in other cooperatives of the territory.

González thanked the support of the international cooperation, that not only benefit those working in the farms, their families and the cooperative but also that the results will impact the municipality also, with high quality products and the creation of jobs for women.  

Alfonso Silva said that Las Piedras has 27 hectares, much of them dedicated to the production of vegetables- in farmhouses- and fruits.

The new mini-industry has different equipment for the processing, preserving and vacuum packaging “The equipments will add value to the chane for fruits”

, he added that in other phases, the line of equipments should be completed with HAB.AMA ones, as well as the socio-administrative area, to control the production as well as other wider areas for the benefit.

The tomatoes Alfonso Silva is showing grow in the farmhouses built in Las Piedras. Photo: Raquel Sierra

 Regarding quality, the farmer considered that it was relevant for the mini– industries to be near the place where the raw material is " this farm needs it because is a higher producer of vegetables and fruits, to closet the chain and take a quality product from the producer to the consumer, without intermediaries".

 The municipalities of Guanabacoa, Cotorro, part of La Habana del Este and Plaza de la Revolución, will benefit with the plant Los Placeres del Campo , as well as the tourist resorts such as the hotels Manzana, Saratoga and Packard and the restaurant Café del Oriente.

Alexander Silva considers, it would only need to increase cold capacity for storage and packaging in a second phase of the project. He thinks the plant will be totally opened next June, once the rest of the equipments are here. This is a kind of pre- start for the workers to find more quality and innocuousness “so there is so much ahead”

Tribuna states that the mini- industry helps the municipal Plan de Soberanía Alimentaria y Autoabastecimiento in the Strategy frame for Development in Guanabacoa and it has generated 20 new Jobs so far and 75 % of them are for Women.