35 years after its constitution, the Turquino-Bamburanao Plan confirms the contributions to economic and social development, with appreciable results in improving the quality of life of the more than 19,400 inhabitants of the municipality of Florencia, in the province of Ciego of Avila.

Michel Marrero Castillo, secretary of the municipal commission for this program, highlighted the impact on compliance with the main economic indicators and the sowing plan for the spring campaign, including short-cycle crops that will have an immediate impact on the people's diet.

The Housing program is progressing at a good pace, after the delivery of 20 of the 49 properties planned to be built during the current year, which ensures the permanence of the inhabitants in the town and represents a guarantee to promote the economic development strategy and social, he explained.

The solution to the proposals of the population is prioritized, mostly referring to difficulties with the water supply, lessened with the installation of an aqueduct that ensures the availability of water, however, pumps with higher power and mounting an elevated tank are required for more efficient operation, he said.

Repairs of roads and public institutions (schools, warehouses, pharmacies, medical offices and recreational spaces), carried out with the participation of community factors and the support of credit and service cooperatives, contribute to the well-being of the population in remote communities (Santana, Limpios Grandes, Las Cuevas and Blanquizal), he commented.

Designed by the local government, the assistance plan for hard-to-reach towns includes trade fairs, cultural and recreational activities, visits to individuals and families in vulnerable conditions, and the approach of the main procedures and public services.

The integration of the main organizations and institutions of the municipality ensure the success of this initiative, in line with the policies established at the country level, he explained.

He specified that stability is achieved in public transportation services, with bus departures from the main town to rural communities, the town of Tamarindo and the municipalities of Ciego de Ávila and Morón. In addition to guaranteeing the transfer of patients for medical shifts in the provincial hospital located in the territory of Moron.

Florencia also receives the benefits of the renewable energy program, with the installation of photovoltaic solar systems in isolated homes and the construction of bio-digesters that reduce the emission of polluting waste into the environment by converting it into biogas and using it as organic fertilizers for agriculture.

In this mountainous region is located one of the six existing school farms with a landscape approach in the country, where they promote cleaner productions and implement agro-ecological practices to reduce aggressions to the environment, experiences that socialize with the pig and agricultural producers of the territory.

Marrero Castillo alluded to the synergy established with the Program to Strengthen Capacities for Local Development (PRODEL), with contributions to the production of goods and services in a sustainable manner, including food and construction materials.

With a territorial extension of 290.69 square kilometers (km2), the so-called Municipality of the Beautiful Landscapes, has four popular councils (Florencia, Tamarindo, Guadalupe and Marroquí), with 40 rural settlements (17 concentrated and 23 dispersed) and a population density of 47 inhabitants per km2.

Ciego de Ávila is part of the Turquino-Bamburanao Plan, created in 2004, which covers the entire municipality of Florencia and a part of Chambas, as well as towns in the provinces of Sancti Spíritus and Villa Clara.

Elevations in Ciego de Ávila are also included in the international project Connecting Landscapes, sponsored by the United Nations Development Program, the Forestry Business Group, and the Ministries of Agriculture and Science, Technology and Environment, to guarantee the effective protection of biodiversity against current and future threats to those ecosystems.

Through these two programs, there is environmental education work with rural schools and inhabitants to foster in the mountaineer a culture of caring for the environment, from which they obtain their sustenance in forestry, agricultural production and provision of services.