There are two truths that support the work of Las Margaritas Local Development Project (PDL), by Ciro Redondo. The first is that it is agriculture and livestock that feed the country, even frugally. The second is that it is not men who produce that food: it is entire families.

They are truths so forgotten, that this family business has had to raise them as flags to move towards a sustainable exploitation over time and, precisely, to turn on lights in this regard is that they are going this April 17 to the VI Workshop on Gender Equality, Sustainability and Internationalization. Women Entrepreneurs in Cuba (WEIC 2023).

Las Margaritas is not just any PDL and that becomes clear after speaking for a few minutes with Maite Cruz Hidalgo and Israel Rodríguez Ríos, the couple in charge of the company. Ranchers, country people with a great scientific knowledge, convinced of their clean and calm way of life in Virginia, several kilometers from our cities.

Each ounce of Margarita cheese has coagulated not only cow's milk, but also the knowledge and tradition amassed by several generations of women in Israel's family tree. That is why Maite knows what she is saying when she refers to the need for the families in the countryside to remain there.

“That is what we are going to present to Havana. Our commitment to cattle families, to improve their living conditions so that they remain in the fields, to recognize the work of the women of these families. We are also looking for financing possibilities”. Moreover, if anyone can make each investment count, it is them, convinced of the importance of raising animals with organic food, grazing with kindness and incorporating the necessary technology to diversify productions and maintain quality standards.

All is achieved, in large part, by the hands of women. “We did a survey,” Maite says, “about how people see an enterprising, hard-working woman, and everyone answered that in beauty salons, doing handicrafts, in sewing businesses… Nobody thinks about agriculture, for example. That is why we take the videos of our women to Havana, working directly in the production and carrying the weight of the house, because, unfortunately, we still have a long way to go so that domestic work is not only for women”.

There are no doubts about the effort of rural women from Ciego de Ávila and Cuba in general, what remains is, in any case, to ensure that her effort and that of her family pay enough to have sustainable agricultural production. Therefore, we wish Las Margaritas all the good luck this Monday.

Since last Monday, when the Morón Emprende expo was organized on the heights of the Haydée Santamaría Cuadrado cultural center, one thing was advised by Yunet Pérez Pérez, co-owner of Delavida, a project dedicated to the artisanal production of soaps: “we have to come thinking about to collaborate".

WEIC 2023 is sponsored, among other organizations, by the Cuban Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Cuban Women, the Italia Cargo Foundation, the European Association of Well-being Medicine, the Cuban Embassy in Italy and the Palco Business Group.

Its objective is to provide tools to women entrepreneurs and professionals to take advantage of market opportunities in the face of the transformations of the global economy, caused by the health crisis. The focus is on a sustainable economy, which provides well-being and health, in which the growth of companies goes hand in hand with the reproduction of life.