Oxfam International Supports Cuban Sustainable Agriculture Programme
News from Cuba | Thursday, 2 May 2013
Over 1600 hectares of cultivable lands were rehabilitated by using modern watering systems that help counter drought effects, as a result of cooperation actions that the island has maintained with Oxfam international confederation for two decades.
Beat Smich, representative in Cuba of the network which groups 17 organizations, told Prensa Latina news agency that over the past 20 years the island has been provided with 218 windmills, solar panels, and other technology, in an effort to develop renewable energy sources.
In that period of time, dozens of projects were implemented at an estimate cost of 20 million dollars, along with the rehabilitation of 54 seedbeds, organic gardens and intensive agriculture sites.
Cooperation projects also included the refurbishing of 200 trucks and tractors and the supply of some 15 300 agricultural tools and implements, said Smich.
Other production facilities related to the production of ice-cream, preserves and different services were also rehabilitated, along with a municipal hotel and a brick-manufacturing workshop.
The Oxfam executive stressed the support of 78 cooperative farms, which were hard hit by hurricanes Ike and Paloma in 2008, while the network has also collaborated with the National Association of Small Farmers in the implementation of good agricultural practices and local development.
Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations networked together in more than 90 countries. The network particularly focuses on the assistance of rural communities for their development.
