Livaldo and Elena, Anna Mairilis, Misael, Alexander and the Research Center for Animal Improvement of Tropical Livestock, may seem distant, however, they have several points in common: they live in Havana, they are linked to the agricultural sector and, what that currently unites them the most, they participate in the HAB.AMA international project, which is being developed in the Cuban capital with the contribution of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS).

Livaldo Díaz Casas, from the Media Luna farm, belonging to the Gabriel Valiente Cooperative of Credits and Services (CCS), from East Havana. Photo: Raquel Sierra

Livaldo Díaz Casas, from the Media Luna farm, belonging to the Gabriel Valiente Credit and Services Cooperative (CCS), in East Havana, produces peppers, chives, chard, lettuce, mountain garlic, 30 varieties of fruit trees and small livestock (hens, turkeys and chickens).

"In a first stage, this farm will benefit from rabbit cages, as part of the small livestock chain," said Bárbara González Rodríguez, coordinator of the Food Self-Supply and Development of Sustainable Economic Initiatives project in Havana (HAB.AMA). ).

In Media Luna, together with the production of vegetables and the use of renewable energy, the cultivation of mulberry as animal feed and the diversification of fruit trees stand out, which allow the production of juices and jams that are rarely seen, but with flavor and properties remarkable, for example, from the cashew. In this way, it also responds to the postulates of the project.

HAB.AMA seeks to increase local production and access to healthy and diversified food, through an economically sustainable and resilient strategy in the five municipalities with the greatest agricultural potential in Havana: Guanabacoa, La Habana del Este, Boyeros, Arroyo Naranjo and Cotorro.

Misael Ponce Lugo, from the CCS Emiliano Montes de Oca, in Bacuranao, in Guanabacoa.

Photo: Raquel Sierra

Multiple incidents

The project will contribute to the territorial actors being able to assume a greater role in improving their working conditions, family income, level of training, organization and gender equality, based on the sustainability of the production of fruits, vegetables and small livestock. .

As Mónica Piniella Gutiérrez, from the Tropical Fruit Farming Research Institute, an institution that, together with AICS, implements the project, explained during a tour of the productive setting, the delivery of rabbit cages to producers benefiting from HAB.AMA of the municipalities of Havana del Este, Guanabacoa, Cotorro and Arroyo Naranjo.

“These resources will support rabbit farming and will enable the increase of this species. The intensive raising of rabbits will allow the increase of meat for the producers themselves and the sale to the local population; taking into account that this project aims to increase local production, and access to healthy food”, she pointed out.

Along with rabbits -today in a kind of moratorium due to a dangerous disease that forced the sacrifice of the populations-, within the small livestock the poultry, goat and sheep species are also included. To boost the production of milk and its derivatives, the Vista Hermosa farm will be benefited, in charge of farmer Misael Ponce Lugo, from CCS Emiliano Montes de Oca, from Bacuranao, in Guanabacoa.

According to Iris Fonseca Ibáñez, technical advisor, most of the area of ​​the farm, where a Local Development Project (PDL) is being carried out, is dedicated to growing animal feed, in varieties such as mulberry, king grass and cane for its goats, Creole pigs, rams and cattle and buffalo.

“As beneficiaries of this project, we will have the opportunity to purchase milking equipment to improve and humanize work on the farm, a cold room to guarantee the safety of food produced from this species, and we will also have the possibility of acquiring a refrigerated transport for the collection of milk”, said the agricultural engineer.

Very different lines assumes the Basic Unit of Cooperative Production (UBPC) Cinco Palmas, from the Villa María locality, in Guanabacoa. Since 1998, Anna Mairilis Darias Viciedo has been at the forefront of this productive scenario, fundamentally dedicated to the production of root ball postures.

With 16 workers, of which 15 cooperative members, five are women and, in addition to the postures, they focus on the production of vegetables and condiments in organoponics and, recently, on the drying and marketing of condiments and dried medicinal plants. “We have previously benefited from projects of the Cuban Association of Animal Production and the Food and Nutrition Security Program (PROSAN). Now, with HAB.AMA, they are going to support us with two laying houses with their irrigation systems to increase the obtaining of postures, in which we already have a lot of experience,” said Darias Viciedo.

As she explained, “at the time of posture production there is a lot of demand and we can't cope with the facilities we have. With these inputs we could go from two million positions a year, to supply, essentially, the producers of Guanabacoa and the surrounding municipalities."

At the UPBC Cinco Palmas they develop trays of lettuce, chard, tomato, pepper, ají chai and cachucha, eggplant and also flowers, because in the municipality some producers are dedicated to this crop.

Science also benefited

In addition to the different forms of production, HAB.AMA benefits several scientific institutions, including the Research Center for Animal Improvement of Tropical Livestock (CIMA-GT).

According to Sahilis López Abreu, doctor in Veterinary Medicine and specialist in the semen technology laboratory of the CIMA-GT, the fundamental task of the laboratory is the design and development of the means of diffusion of semen for its conservation, either in a state fresh, chilled or frozen.

On the other hand, she said, we make evaluations of the seminal quality of all those species of productive interest: pigs, sheep-goats, rabbits, bobbins, and also zoo species.

“With the HAB.AMA project we are going to receive a series of equipment and supplies for the laboratory, which will allow us to strengthen reproductive technology and the services that we would provide to the productive base, which responds to the purpose of bringing science to the producer, with the objective of strengthening its herd, through genetic improvement”, he explained.

According to Piniella, the CIMA-GT will provide training and technical assistance so that the beneficiary multipliers of the project can achieve more productive varieties of sheep, goats and rabbits and ensure more milk and meat.

With the supplies on their way, the production stage prepares the conditions for their reception and assembly, with an eye on the benefits that this project will bring, which, in good faith, arrives from Italy at the hands of the Italian Cooperation Agency for the Development (AICS).