Gibara verde x ciento project contributes to food solutions

Sponsored by the World Food Program (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Gibara verde x ciento project is aimed at supporting local solutions towards a more resilient and sustainable food system in Cuba.

Among the actions carried out in this coastal town of Holguín province. is the  local food supply to key institutions such as schools, children day care centers and to health care units linked to the Family Care System (SAF).

Four agricultural cooperativeshave joined this sustainable food alternative for the people of Gibara in order to strengthen the capacities of small farmers and achieve direct links and a better articulation between them and the social protection programs.

Yanielsis Álvarez Álvarez, member of the board of directors of the CCS Radiel Rodríguez of Guardarrayas, explained that links are maintained with the Education sector, mainly with the Eddy Suñol Ricardo boarding school in this town and with five other schools which are supplied directly and in less time of delivery with food, grains, vegetables and fresch pork .

Álvarez pointed out that in Gibara this cooperative faces challenges on its way to sustainability. One of them is to maintain vegetable production in times when it is normally difficult to grow them; however, solutions are being explored with the support of the project to increase the resilience of this production unit.

It also takes into account the planning and use of local resources in nutrition-sensitive agricultural value chains and support for the management of farmer organizations.

The program also promotes healthy, nutritious and safe food for local stakeholders to increase the resilience of the food system to the impact of extreme events and climate change.

It also connects producers with the direct food supply to centers such as schools, day care centers and the SAF (dining-rooms for vulnerable people), while strengthening the capacities of these centers in food processing and nutritional education, and reducing vulnerabilities and risks in the face of negative climatic and economic effects.
In particular, this project is supported by Cuban government institutions, such as the Ministries of Agriculture, Education, Public Health, Internal Trade and Science, Technology and Environment.

In 2023, the initiative acted under the slogan “Local food, innovation and resilience”, being the first joint intervention of IFAD and WFP in coordination with the Cuban government, with the participation of 42 thousand food producing families, to contribute to the nutritional security of the country.

Gibara verde x ciento favors the nutritional approach to food systems in the Island, based on local solutions; its components are aimed at strengthening the capacities of the territorial food system for the supply of food to social protection networks such as the SAF in the case of the province of Holguín. (Source: Radio Angulo)