Authorities from the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture informed the local press that the United Nations together with the FAO donated various agricultural machinery and technologies to the island to rescue more than 35,000 hectares of degraded lands in several municipalities from the “marabou.”
According to It is report, this cleaning program must be executed before 2027 and has a monetary injection of more than 38 million dollars from international “green” organizations. Cuba has a large part of its arable land covered with “marabú”, a parasitic plant that can destroy these plots. It also needs them for food production.
Up to now, the project has delivered three “RT 400” type forestry tractors with accessories capable of cutting marabou and introducing plant matter into the soil to help it restore itself. They also delivered another 14 normal tractors, without the previous technology.
As if that were not enough, they donated another 70 chainsaws, four plows and 100 modules of 11 manual agricultural tools to state productive units, cooperatives and farmers, who are in charge of these cleaning tasks in Los Arabos (Matanzas), Santo Domingo, Quemado de Güines and Corralillo (Villa Clara), and Jobabo, Amancio Rodríguez and Colombia (Las Tunas).
WHY ARE THERE SO MUCH MARABOU IN CUBA?
Cooperation reports indicate that in two years, since 2021, just over 2,000 hectares have been restored on these degraded lands, where fruit trees, fodder trees, pastures, various crops, shade trees and other pastures that stimulate to feed cows, goats and others.
With this, it is estimated that carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere were also reduced. Throughout this 2023, it is expected that more donations of tractors, chainsaws and plows will arrive, as well as resources such as animal-drawn planters, electric fodder mills, agricultural trailers and brushcutters.
Modules of machetes, pruning shears, wheelbarrows, rakes, hammers, mandarrias, hoes, shovels, and wire pliers would also arrive. To handle all this and advance in the cleanup of this invasive plant, 100 people have been trained, including 20 women. The marabou has become a real plague for the Cuban fields.
