CAMAGÜEY.- The cold planting season in the province, just like in the rest of the country, suffers the impact of the lack of fuel, fertilizers and pesticides. In light of this situation it urges that the farmers in Camagüey make a more efficient use of the resources to accomplish better performances and to guarantee the food for the people.
Julio Velázquez Ávila, agricultural engineer and sub delegate of Varied Cultivation in the province informed Adelante Digital about the work strategy to keep the campaign unstopped, the most important in the agriculture and where 60% of the production for the next year is guaranteed. Keeping that in mind, the areas that are going to provide considerable volumes of viands and vegetables were privileged with resources.
The first priority is the plantation of tomatoes destined to the industry, concentrated mainly in the areas of Camalote, Najasa and Santa Cruz del Sur. Secondly, to plant cassava, that directly contributes to the food of the people; and the third one is beans, a decisive line in the substitution of imports. They are working also in boosting the areas that have risk systems in Sierra de Cubitas, Esmeralda y Vertientes for short cycle crops such as sweet potatoes, pumpkin and cabbage.
Unlike previous years, today the certified seeds for this plantations are guaranteed, assured Velázquez Ávila. “We have in the territory 70 thousand vitro plants, with high genetic potential, of plantain, produced in the Biofactory, the different varieties of sweet potato obtained thanks to the join work of the Farm of Seeds in Santa Cruz del Sur and the Experimental Station of the Tropical Viands Research Institute (INIVIT). In the case of cassava there are stems for over 4 thousand hectares.
The agricultural engineer acknowledged that the key to weather the difficulties lies in “not wasting time, be efficient, make it right to accomplish greater performances in the crops and to apply alternatives whether for the utilization of bioproducts as fertilizers and biological control, as well as for the use of animal traction for the preparation of small portions of land and the transportation of the crops.
The cold planting season all over Cuba started on September 1st and will last until February 28th.
- Translated by Elianna Diaz Mendieta