Mayabeque, Cuba: Researchers from the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences (INCA), located in San José de las Lajas, work to substitute imports through the practice of agriculture with the necessary inputs to guarantee crops in high demand in the population such as beans, rice and corn.
The increasing limitations imposed by the blockade, exacerbated by Covid-19, do not stop the will and dedication of the workers of this house of higher studies, who, aligned with the country’s politics, have the premise of favoring food through alternatives harmless to human health and the environment.
One of its leading products is azofert, with great growth in terms of research, demand and management for its production and marketing, for the sake of sustainable agro-ecological development.
The team, led by the researcher from the Department of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry of INCA, Doctor of Science María Caridad Napoles García, achieved that this bio – product, unlike other inoculants, contains indicators of greater competitiveness and efficiency.
Among its main benefits are: the direct contribution of nitrogen to the plant, plant growth and agricultural yields between 20 and 60 percent and greater use of nutrients from the soil, with the consequent reduction in environmental pollution and savings in minerals fertilizers.
It also reduces the costs for the use of inputs, does not degrade the soils and contributes to reestablishing the microbial balance; protects the root system of the plant against certain diseases and reduces the adverse effects of abiotic stresses such as drought.
Among the main advances of this bio – product in 2020 was: optimizing the large-scale production of azofert beans to extend its application to the growing demands of producers and state agricultural entities.
Today, this group of hardworking men and women are immersed in achieving the scaling of Azofert-soya, in the Business Unit of Base Cuba 10 of Quivicán, with a view to obtaining higher quantities of the product for distribution.
The projection in the immediate future is to continue the productive chain and work on the technological licensing of the complete line to LABIOFAM, to produce and commercialize larger volumes of the three registered products (Azofert® for soybeans, beans and canavalia).
On the other hand, a new project was approved in the Sectorial Program for the Development and Sustainable Use of Agricultural and Veterinary Bioassays, to promote the generation of two new Bioproducts, based on rhizobia for rice and corn, which will soon be part of the line.
