Farmer from Mayabeque Produces Seeds to Substitute Imports and Increase Yields

Mayabeque, Cuba: In the farms Las Piedras and El Melocotón, the peasant Esther Figueredo follows a maxim, the first and best fruits are for seeds, as a guarantee for the next harvests in those plots in the municipality of Bejucal, in the Cuban province of Mayabeque.

This practice is being promoted today in the country, with a view to cutting, as far as possible, external dependence.

Thus, Figueredo and her family, members of the Antonio Maceo Credit and Services Cooperative, insure the seeds of tomato, chili pepper, beans, carrot and coffee, among others, especially in times when imports are scarce.

?The best is for the seed, which gives us peace of mind. Those that we don’t have, we can exchange them with other producers?, the farmer revealed.

The director of seeds and plant genetic resources of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rolando Quincosa, said that producers guarantee 40 percent of the seeds, while the rest is obtained through a national seed system.