The initiative, promoted by the Cuban Association of Agricultural and Forestry Technicians (ACTAF) and the Basque Euskadi-Cuba Friendship Association, with funds from the Basque Government, trains women and community leaders to produce food in the urban agriculture program.

It also seeks to strengthen the agricultural production structures of diversified farms and seeds through women’s empowerment, a purpose for which the European party allocated 63,365 euros (more than 1.331 Cuban pesos).

The Cuban director of the project, Karen Alvarado, a PhD in Agricultural Sciences, explained to Prensa Latina that they implemented an agroecological technical and environmental training program with a gender-based approach, in which 17 workshops have been given.

To date, five women have been trained at Finca San Juan, two in a mini-industry, two in vegetable production and one in poultry breeding, under the same salary conditions as men and with equal recognition of their abilities, Alvarado said.

However, 31 men and 26 women who already work in the Luis Rustán and Osmel Gonzalvo Credit and Service Cooperatives (CCS) have attended the training cycle on a permanent basis.

The expert explained that agroecological techniques such as biofertilizers (Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi, Azotobacter, phosphorin, Phytomass, Levame), organic fertilizers (worm humus, sheep and cattle manure) and green fertilizers for food and seed production are being applied on farms of the Luis Rustán CCS, based on what they have learned.

She added that a nutritional education circle of interest is in operation in the Pastorita community and one on livestock in the Los Cocos community, both with a gender-mainstreaming focus.

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