RADIO HABANA CUBA Hello, amigos and welcome to another edition of RHC's Science, Technology and the Enviroment update. I am Arnaldo - Arnie - Coro, Radio Havana Cuba's Science Editor, and today I'll tell you about a program for raising sheep and goats using low-cost, organic farming methods.
BREAKTHROUGH
Report on Science, Technology & the EnvironmentFor broadcast Sunday, December 2 & Thursday, December 6, 2001
Written and narrated by Arnaldo "Arnie" Coro, RHC's Science Editor
Animal protein production has to be increased in Cuba during the next several years, using whatever means are available -- from fish farming to raising sheep and goats in small-scale production units. A program to provide lamb meat at low cost has just started in the Eastern part of the island and so far has provided the population with a significant increase in the animal protein content in the diet. The program contemplates providing individual producers with high-quality animals, so that they can start their own breeding, as well as veterinary assistance and access to vaccines essential for commercial scale-animal production.
The program has access to pure breeds of both sheep and goats that are well-adapted to the Cuban climate and have proven to be resistant to common diseases. Although these small-scale production units do not achieve very fast results, and the animals take more time to gain weight than those that are grown in intensive cattle-growing units, the fact that they are spread all over a big area makes possible lower transportation costs and the use of whatever feedstock is available for them locally.
The contract between the state-owned farms and the individual producers calls for a certain number of sheep or goats to be sold back to the providers, who in turn sell them at a profit. The rest of the animals are either used for feeding the families of those who grow them or are sold at the farmers' market at a somewhat higher profit, providing the families with an extra income.
As both sheep and goats can be pastured pretty easily, there are many women involved in this project, who have found not only a job, but also a nice way of improving their families' diet and earning some extra money.
Another very succesful program that is now moving at a fast pace in Eastern Cuba are the urban organic farms, which are also a very important source of employment for the population and which that have already increased the daily intake of vegetables per capita to a level that exceeds the daily requirement of 300 grams per person, as recommended by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
From Havana, this was another edition of "Breakthrough." My sound engineer and producer, Jose Costa Pupo, and yours truly, Arnie Coro, wish to invite you to listen again to our program next week at the same time and short wave frequency....
For more information, via Air Mail:
"Breakthrough"
Radio Havana Cuba
Havana, CUBA 10600
Via e-mail: arnie@radiohc.org
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