Agroecology is the way (+audio).
Science and innovation are the fundamental tools used by Indio Hatuey’s specialists to achieve local food production, import substitution and savings of financial resources.
Science and innovation are the fundamental tools used by specialists at the Indio Hatuey Experimental Station of the University of Matanzas to achieve local food production, import substitution and savings in financial resources.
This was highlighted by Yuván Contino Esquijerrosa, researcher of the scientific institution located in this municipality of Matanzas.
«Here we have already achieved the harvesting of products such as potatoes and rice from ecological principles and the use of bio-inputs such as IH-PLUS».
What does IH-PLUS mean?
«IH, refers to the acronym Indio Hatuey, the name of our center and PLUS because it is a natural product made from the fermentation of the forest canopy of a virgin forest that preserves its organic matter. For example, we go to the Zapata Swamp, a place we have identified in the province for collecting leaf litter. It is an area that is protected, without the influence of rivers that drag the material, salt flats that contaminate, nor the presence of human activity that deteriorates the place with solid or liquid waste».
What other elements are of interest to collect?
«The colonies of fungi and bacteria, something that also represents a wealth, because it allows lignin and cellulose to degrade at the forest level. These natural polymers that make up the plants have a strong texture and when they decompose, they incorporate it into the soil. That is why with IH-PLUS we make an important environmental contribution by making rational use of residues from forest ecosystems.»
Do only elements extracted from the forest make up the IH-PLUS?
«No. During the fermentation process of that leaf litter, we add a carbon source, such as rice straw; we add molasses or flea honey resulting from the manufacture of cane sugar; and remains of by-products such as milk whey to enhance the presence of lacto-bacilli, essential in fermentation. Thus we obtain a ‘mother’ or solid mass, derived from the first fermentation, then the liquid mother and finally, the third fermentation from which we extract the precipitate or fertilizer that in the form of rain is applied to the crops or soil».
What are the benefits of IH-PLUS for the crops and the farmland?
«This has a very favorable effect on the control of pests, diseases and particularly on the quality of the soil, by guaranteeing nutritional balance. But this natural product is equally valuable in animal husbandry because we incorporate beneficial microorganisms that provide improvements in the processes of digestion and assimilation of food. This influences the optimal utilization of the diets. That is why IH-PLUS boosts the agricultural and livestock areas and, above all, preserves the environment.
«That is why we are making it available to Cuba’s agricultural system, because agroecology is the sure path to food sustainability in the midst of the current conditions of climate change,» emphasized Contino Esquijerrosa.
…ONLINE AUDIO
Written by Ana González.
