"Green Medicine is not a necessity of poverty, but an option of wealth, and it is here to stay". With this premise, the University of Las Tunas, represented by its rector, Master of Science Aurora Ramos de Las Heras, established a collaboration agreement with the Flora: La Botica de la Abuela (Grandmother's Apothecary) local development project, of the province of Havana.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- Rodolfo Arencibia Figueroa, Ph.D. in Sciences, head of the project and president of the Technical Group of Medicinal Plants of the Cuban Association of Agricultural and Forestry Technicians (ACTAF, by its acronym in Spanish), explained that La Botica de la Abuela arises to use the surplus that the Ministry of Public Health does not buy from the productive bases of the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAG) dedicated to the cultivation of medicinal plants, with curative properties for numerous ailments and diseases.
As part of the conference that took place in the Postgraduate classroom of the Pepito Tey campus, Arencibia Figueroa and the commercial director of this initiative, Ileana Santana Gómez, explained to those present the organizational structure and operation of the project, which has three production lines and stands out in the manufacture and sale of tea bags, condiments, and infusions, with good acceptance among its consumers.
During his exchange with the rector, the ACTAF director said: "Initially we signed collaboration agreements with all the universities from Camagüey to Pinar del Río, but at the request of the Minister of Higher Education we decided to incorporate the higher education institutions of the eastern provinces. We are accompanied in this experience by Italian professor Maurizio Gioli, from the University of Pisa, a connoisseur of sustainable agriculture and everything related to agricultural benefits in bio-natural conditions, who has taught us a lot.
Arencibia Figueroa urged the University not to join his project, but rather to think of one of its own, with autonomy, which can contribute information and support Flora: la Botica de la Abuela. Likewise, the Director of International Relations at the University of Las Tunas, Doctor of Science María Gertrudis Batista Ortiz, took advantage of the opportunity to express to Italian professor Maurizio Gioli the institution's interest in signing a collaboration agreement with the University of Pisa.
