Maravi

Cuba creates 1million jobs

Cuba creates 1million jobs
By Larry Moonze in Havana, Cuba
Sunday April 08, 2007 [04:00]

CUBA has managed to create one million jobs through its modest but scientifically backed urban agriculture concept. In an interview, Tropical Agriculture Research Institute (INIFAT) director Adolfo Rodriguez Nodals said urban agriculture was an ecological paradigm that was easy to apply and whose objective was to render food production a part of the population culture.

"Urban agriculture in Cuba is basically food production within the urban and peri-urban perimetre applying intensive methods, taking into account the human-crop-animal-environment relationship and the facilities of urban framework which lead to the personnel stability and varied crop and animal productions during the whole year through sustainable ways, enabling also recycling of waste," Rodriguez said.

"In the last 10 years, we have managed to transform unproductive, underutilised or useless sites into real horticultural gardens and entities with high productivity on sustainable basis. We have about one million people working under this income-generation activity that supplement family earnings."

He said of the one million people involved in the project's 28 sub-programmes 82,515 are women, 78,312 young persons, 44,500 technicians and 10,112 professionals.

Rodriguez said his institute which is 103 years old was now the nerve centre for urban agriculture. He said before the triumph of the Revolution, the institute served as a research centre for commercial farmers who sought to find ways of boosting their sugar, tobacco and coffee production but not for national food security.
Rodriguez said President Fidel Castro had mandated the institute to help in ensuring food security.

He said its researchers and agricultural scientists offered farmers expertise in organic farming as it restored the fertility of soils and subtracted yet provided stable yields as opposed to chemical agriculture.

Rodriguez said the concept utilises intercropping techniques in addition to bio-pesticides where each square metre available gives the highest crop and animal production throughout the year.

He said in 2006, the 10,000 gardens of urban agricultural sector produced 154,000 tonnes of rice compared to 40,000 from commercial entities although the later is affected by economic factors.

Rodriguez said 75 per cent of vegetables on the island came from urban farming sector while the same producers supplied from their backyard 5,000 tonnes of pork.

He said it was estimated that this year, pork supplies would increase to 7,000 tonnes.

Rodriguez said the concept is highly community driven as producers were individuals that had no government links although the state helped through extension services including introduction of new crop varieties and best manure for each region through his institute.

He said to succeed, each municipality or location had its own crops, seed nurseries and manure producers to suit their soils and environment and local consumer needs and taste.

Rodriguez said his institute currently offered training to Venezuela, Mexico, Costa Rica, Barbados and had had exchange cooperation on urban agriculture with Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia and Cape Verde. He said other programmes were still under discussion with African countries.

Labels: AGRICULTURE, CUBA, JOBS

posted by MrK @ 5:44 AM