WFP project promotes farmer development in Holguín

Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras / ACN

The project ¡Actúa Diferente!, managed by the World Food Programme (WFP), promotes the professional development of farmers in Holguín with the aim to improve planting and livestock processes based on science.

The program is carried out in Urbano Noris in collaboration with the Municipal University Center (CUM), where three annex classrooms were created in productive settings to meet the specific needs of farmers seeking a degree, said Mirelys Gainza González, director of the CUM.

Initiated with 10 enrolled farmers, a flexible schedule was established to allow students to balance their studies with agricultural work, offering classes alternately at farms and cooperatives.

One of the beneficiaries, Gilberto Velázquez, owner of La Isabela farm and a fourth-year Agronomy student, highlighted that he learned to combine traditional farming with scientific knowledge to enhance his work.

The project trains farmers in the use of new technologies such as motor backpacks and cultivators, facilitating and humanizing fieldwork.

The program also involves students as Technical Teaching Advisors to address the local shortage of teachers and manage their formal inclusion at the CUM. It focuses on in-demand careers such as accounting and feasibility studies in industrial processes, key areas for the local agricultural and sugar sector development.

Gainza González added that the scientific and practical results also serve community institutions like childcare centers, elderly homes, semi-boarding schools, senior centers and nursing homes, among others.

Funded by the Korean Agency for Development (Koica) through the WFP, ¡Actúa Diferente! benefits over 8,000 people across five municipalities in eastern Cuba and supports the national policy promoting food sovereignty. (Source: ACN)