Older people say that everyone should seek their horizon, their goal; that is, set their purpose, their intentions, their desires, and then rearrange their actions in such a way that they lead or -at least- bring them closer to the fulfillment of that objective.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- Extending the concept beyond human beings, something like this is required of our lands, those that according to an old study (from the '80s of the last century) are evaluated, in their majority, between regular or bad, because they lack nutrients and suffer intensely from the strong rays of the sun.

The solution will never be to stand idly by, waiting for the soils of Las Tunas to deteriorate much more and for food to arrive from other localities or provinces. That is not what is needed in these turbulent times, nor is it what the producers, legal owners of their farms, or state workers want.

That is why they apply alternatives, most of them learned from their ancestors, who barely knew how to read or write, but who knew exactly what was the best time to cut wood, wean a calf, graft an orange tree, or water seeds.

Little by little, a scientific explanation was found for each of these actions, and although climate change transformed seasons and processes, the improvements in production were evident when they did what the elders said, and some of the modernity, especially chemical fertilizers, were ignored.

This is more or less how the agro-ecological movement "De campesino a campesino" (From farmer to farmer) -promoted by the National Association of Small Farmers- emerged 24 years ago, although its beginnings were in the center of the country and it arrived in Las Tunas in 2003.

Since then, it has been a priority and there are currently 18 agroecology farms and 388 in transformation. In them, as indispensable requirements, there is diversification of products, no tractors are used and oxen are used. In addition, the fertilizers used are natural, with emphasis on worm humus.

The municipality of Puerto Padre is at the forefront, and more and better work is needed in "Amancio", where there is no area that meets these requirements. And it will be well worth it because the application of agroecology is directly proportional to healthy food and higher production.

The province expects to have, in the next calendar, about 100 areas complying with the requirements, which would make them sustainable and allow better management of the natural resources involved in their environment (water, soils, forests, wild flora, and fauna, crops, and livestock).

The path is marked and, for the hard-working, nature-loving, and convinced that only work can transform reality, the compass will always point to the future. So there are no other options: either the farm is transformed or it deteriorates.