Farmer sets standards in sustainable agriculture in Cuba

The manager told Prensa Latina that this farmer from La Sierpe, with his traditional resources, complies with the contracts to supply pork to the Provincial Pork Company and the sausage plant of that firm, which contributes to the chaining and collection of currency.

This reporter visited the producer, who has been decorated with the National Vanguard distinction, for three consecutive years at El Desarrollo farm, which covers an area of 36.95 hectares, clean of weeds, where he grazes his cattle, and cultivates several crops and protein plants.

Castro, who is a member of the Enrique Villegas Credit and Services Cooperative in La Ferrolana, also a National Vanguard for three years in a row, came to the field from the classrooms -a primary school teacher and a graduate in speech therapy-, with the commitment to making the land productive, he commented.

Founder of the swine program in La Sierpe in 1996, he said that despite the limitations, lack of supplies and the health crisis, he has not stopped supplying his products to the State, and cooperates with the community by donating the surplus of production to medical and educational centers.

In order to maintain some 250 pigs, he receives resources commensurate with the delivery to the State company and he guarantees the rest of the food with local production, cassava yogurt, rice hulls, fish and protein plants.

This way, we help reduce imports and maintain a presence in international market offers, by facilitating closing the production-benefit-commercialization cycle, an important livelihood for the province and the country, he added.

The delivery of some 20 tons of pork annually, he explained, favors the levels of online and border sales, which are invested in monetary resources to support the company’s strategy, in addition to collecting some 1,000 liters of milk a month in during spring period to end the year with about 10,000 liters.

The farm is run by a family group -Castro, Dairy Garcia (his wife), cousins and other relatives- who receive a decent salary and will grow with everything we do to have a permanent presence in the local livelihood.

The farm director commented that the company is a national reference and export pole, betting on diversification, where other farmers, cooperative members also mark their development, without leaving aside rice production, their main output.