Soybean cultivation in Matanzas, a step towards food sovereignty.
About 30 hectares of the Agricultural Production Cooperative (CPA) Alberto Delgado, in the municipality of Perico, are now being used for soybean cultivation as part of a local development project.
According to Ángel Ernesto Pérez Rodríguez, president of the CPA, this is the first time they are planting the oilseed plant, which is drought tolerant; it needs water, especially during the germination stage and at the time of flowering and requires few resources.
The main objective is to produce edible oil for the municipality and benefit the cooperative members. In addition to soybean derivatives, animal feed will be guaranteed for the livestock module, which will increase its capacity with the addition of 300 pigs.
The plant is to be processed at the Indio Hatuey Pasture and Forage Experimental Station, whose specialists will also advise on planting, as part of the necessary link between academia and the countryside.
Soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merrill, is native to China and has been cultivated since 3000 BC.
In the Cuban industry, the following derivatives are obtained: edible oil, flour for human and animal consumption, livestock feed, texturized, lecithin for the pharmaceutical industry, meat and dairy foods, among others.
Written by Yunielys Moliner Isasi.
