Cuba's priorities in food production programs focus on the development strategy itself, especially on livestock, with scientific support and international collaboration.

Camagüey, Cuba.- The links between the Livestock Development Project (Prodegan) of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, financed by the French Development Agency, and the University of Camagüey, are bearing fruit with “major results in the multiplication and use of the improved Mulato II grass, a very attractive and beneficial species for cattle feeding and resistant to drought,” Radio Cadena Agramonte’s website reported.

In the last two years, livestock development in Camagüey has been strengthened by gradual budgetary injection, thanks to the Project, while another part of its budget is in charge of the Cuban Government.

The links with the university, at the head of the research to strengthen this sector of agriculture in the province with the largest milk production in Cuba, currently allow for verifying encouraging results, especially for livestock feeding.

“The use of a food foundation composed of Brachiaria Mulato II, mineral salt, and water only has resulted in the growth of a daily average of 1.6 kilograms, in each of the five yearlings with which they have been experimenting positively, for a month, in the management of this pasture in an area of the Camagüey institution,” the website reported.

According to Prodegan expert Norbys Hidalgo, “one of the key problems that affect cattle raising is the inefficient food base and therefore the late incorporation of cows to reproduction.” (PL)