Escambray ENGLISH EDITION
security in Cuba was held in the Meliá-Habana Hotel. (Photo: ACN).
Cuban Vice-Minister of Agriculture, Maury Hechavarría, said on Tuesday that the food-agriculture sector, which is being submitted to very important tranformations in order to foster its development, is a strategic priority in the country.
Such transformations are based on a clear policy for the substitution of imports by strengthening national productions, said the official during his speech at the opening workshop on the Country Strategic Support Program for sustainable food security in Cuba (SAS).
For ten years now, the Ministry of Agriculture (Minag), with the financial support of the European Union (EU), has been working on cooperation initiatives to strengthen the development of the country’s capacities to increase food production, he added.
Also present in the workshop were the Ambassador and Head of the EU delegation in Cuba, Alberto Navarro, who said that the program includes aspects related to resistance to climate change as well as agriculture on agroecological bases and the experiences of other nations on the subject.
The project aims to sustainably increase the production of quality food to meet local demand, specifically with the use of innovative, environmental and climate resilient approaches.
According to the source, the program has an implementation period of 72 months and a 19 953 000 euros budget of which 19 650 000 are provided by the EU. The rest comes from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
The territories benefiting from this plan are the municipalities of Remedios, Placetas and Santa Clara, in the province of Villa Clara, and Yaguajay, Taguasco and Sancti Spíritus in the province of Sancti Spiritus, all of them in central Cuba.
Also particpating in the workshop were Consuelo Vidal, resident coordinator of the UN system in Cuba; Maribel Gutierrez, resident representative of UNDP; FAO representative, Marcelo Resende; the director of International Relations of Minag, Moraima Céspedes, as well as other representatives and experts from the ministries and institutions linked to the program.
(Translated from PL).
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