The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) informed about the details of a plan for the modernization of veterinary services related to small livestock in Cuba.
The plan is being implemented in six municipalities in the provinces of Villa Clara and Sancti Spíritus. The Ministry of Agriculture, FAO and the European Union participate in the project, Prensa Latina reported.
The objective of this initiative, according to FAO, “is to increase the production of foods of high protein and nutritional value in local food systemsfrom the strengthening of capacities in the management, reproduction and feeding of small livestock, as well as in veterinary technical assistance and animal health services.
According to the newspaper Escambray, the FAO considers that there are advances in national capacities for clinical and gestational diagnosis of small livestock. For them techniques such as mobile ultrasound and x-rays are used. The project also has allowed the acquisition of antibiotics and antiparasitics.
Mario Reinoso Pérez, professor and researcher at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the Central University of Las Villas, Marta Abreu, is one of the specialists who has given training. Reinoso Pérez has promoted in his conferences the exchange of methodologies related to reproductive management and genetic improvementpublished the FAO on its web portal.
The project also seeks the implementation of artificial insemination services for the improvement of the breed, according to Jorge Collazo Cabrera, master specialist in Animal Reproduction Sciences at the Research Center for Animal Improvement in Tropical Livestock (CIMAGT).
Recently, FAO and the European Union implemented a plan to promote seed production in eight municipalities in the country.. These projects are part of a series of aid provided by both institutions to Cubawhich seeks to improve the conditions of the food crisis on the Island. The Minister of Agriculture himself, Ydael Pérez Brito, recognized “how far the organization is from solving these and other tasks.”
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