The workers of the mini-industry El Placer, belonging to the Reinaldo Maning Strengthened Credit and Services Cooperative (CCSF), in the municipality of Majagua, intends to resume the sustained increase in food production for the population and other destinations.
Recently, Liván Izquierdo Alonso, a member of the Central Committee of the Party of Cuba and its first secretary in the province of Ciego de Ávila, together with Governor Tomás Alexis Martín Venegas and the main political and governmental authorities of the municipality, were there to verify the progress of investments and the development prospects of that initiative.
The immediate objective is to reach again the more than 960 tons of food that passed through these facilities during 2019, thanks to the contribution of 150 producers in the area, farmer Martín Alonso Gómez, in charge of El Placer, said.
From the gradual improvement of the conditions of the national economy, which has affected agricultural production, a takeoff is expected. However, the first secretary of the Party in the province pointed out the need to go peasant to peasant to hire, process and market each fruit that comes from the furrow.
The partisan leader highlighted the importance of this mini-industry having the lands of its associated producers as a guarantee of raw material for its assortments, an unresolved scenario for other factories of its type in Ciego de Ávila.
This form of management is part of the Support Project for Sustainable Agriculture in Cuba (PAAS), whose objective is to generate economic growth, create jobs and reduce harmful impacts on the environment.
The Ministry of Agriculture, the Agricultural Group, the Cuban Association of Agricultural and Forestry Technicians, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (known in Spanish as COSUDE) and the Dutch non-governmental organization Hivos are among the organizations involved in the PAAS.
The project is currently going through its third phase, which includes the installation of new equipment and the conditioning of new areas to expand production, such as pickles and vinegar.
In the same way, several producers plant sunflower to extract the oil and then use it in tomato derivatives and in frying root vegetables.
During the visit, they also learned about the use of sugar cane syrup made by themselves, to sweeten products that require it, as an alternative to the grain deficit in the country. All examples of how they contribute from a circular economy approach.
The residents of Majagua benefit from around 50 products at two points of sale, one in the Mamonal Popular Council itself, where the mini-industry is located, and the other in the municipal seat.
In both they sell fruit juices and pulp, sauces, tomato and chili puree, fruit mini-doses, pickles, root vegetables, grains, fresh vegetables, among others, with prices below what is offered today in the market.
Due to the marketing facilities given to the new forms of economic management in Cuba, El Placer is inserted in sales to Tourism, to Foreign Currency Collecting Stores and to electronic commerce with some 80 products.
Linked to the mini-industry and the promotion of fruit trees, another local development project called Vereda de Frutas Tropicales was designed, whose purpose is to plant more than 1,000 hectares of these plantations and promote agro-tourism in the area.