• Submitted by: Juana
• Local
• Business and Economy
• 01 / 12 / 2017

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Rescuing in Cuba the cultivation of coffee on scientific bases distinguishes, for more than a decade, the experts of the Agroforestry Research Institute (IIA by its Spanish acronym) of Villa Clara province.
The work included the creation of 20 coffee varieties designed according to the peculiarities of the Cuban mountains where these crops predominate, which guarantees the renewal of plantations with seeds of high genetic quality.
Angel Lacerra, an IIA specialist, told ACN that they have also implemented other techniques such as sowing coffee trees in large holes filled with organic matter, and the use of grafts of robust varieties with Arabic ones.
He added that the experience was successfully endorsed in countries like Guatemala and Viet Nam.
Medardo Ferrer, a coffee expert, told ACN that coffee plantations in the province cover 600 hectares with the varieties Typical Arabic, Bourbon, yellow and red Caturra and the Catuai.
We hold meetings and periodic visits to the farms to evaluate the progress in planting, direct attention to seeds and the care of the growing fields, which determine to a great extent the success of the harvest, he said.
Modesto Robaina, manager of La Herradura Basic Unit for Cooperative Production, told the press that they have been using for more than a decade the coffee renovation project, and currently they have the only multivariate nursery in the country where they cultivate more than 20 varieties, destined to the different Cuban provinces. (acn)