• Submitted by: manso
• Business and Economy
• 08 / 12 / 2010

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The improvement of the soils for agriculture, many of them affected by salinity and low content of organic matter, constitutes a priority to increase crops in Cuba, a nation in which food production has a national security status.

A recent international event in Havana pointed out that 76 percent of all Cuban agricultural areas consists of soils with low productivity. Fifteen percent of these lands have high indicies of salinity and nearly 31 percent do not have enough organic matter.

The National Assembly analyzed the situation just a week ago, and deputies decided to develop a strong and efficient agricultural sector, to increase the food security of the Cuban population.

The work for protection and preservation of the agricultural areas is now more important than ever.

As a result of the efforts made, more than 1.23 million acres were benefited; different modalities are being applied, including the use of zeolite and other minerals to strengthen the physical properties of the soils, their structure, retention levels, humidity, porosity and density.

Chemical characteristics such as PH (acidity level), content of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and others also play a significant role.

When soils increase nutrient retention and humidity, the use of zeolite and other minerals allows reducing the use of fertilizers by up to 50 percent.

Specialists said the relationship between rain and steam is less than 0.60 in 14 percent of the Cuban national territory. This affects not only the soils but favors the appearance of plagues and diseases.

In the last few years, Cuba has been changing its agricultural activity, and the use of organic fertilizers has played an important role, combined with natural resources giving plants more nutrients.

In the world only 11 percent of the planet's land mass is cultivated, some 3.7 billion acres.

Source: Cubasi.com