Between Raquel Ruz Reyes and Aramís Rivas Diéguez, both pedagogues and passionate about Agricultural Sciences, there is the complicity of the educator and the disciple who coincided years ago in the physical space of the classroom.

With time, the relationship between them has resulted in a camaraderie based on a deep love for the countryside and the desire to achieve, in Las Tunas, the production of food with a sustainable character and from innovation.

Since, in a certain way, the family tends to be root and wing, it could be thought that having had, in both cases, a teacher mother and a farmer father, marked the destiny of these two professionals from Las Tunas. And in such a way that their future has just borne fruit in an award from the Cuban Academy of Sciences, as part of a collective work presented by the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences (INCA), which brings together experiences from all over the country in the application of a system of agricultural innovation.

Doctor Raquel, the leader here of the Local Agricultural Innovation Project (PIAL), an executive tool of this transforming work, hastens to explain that the merit does not respond only to Las Tunas, to two people or the municipality of Jesús Ménendez; but it is the result of the effort of a group of institutional actors and citizens from all over the province and other territories of the country.

Nine universities from all over the country are participating in this result - Raquel pointed out - together with the Indio Hatuey experimental station of pastures and forage, the Jorge Dimitrov agricultural research institute, and in Holguín the Unit of Extension, Research and Agricultural Training (Ueica); among other entities, most of which belong to the Ministries of Higher Education, Sciences, Technology and Environment,  and Agriculture in 12 provinces of the nation.

In the case of the University of Las Tunas, the eight municipalities are involved with their working groups coordinated by the municipal centers (CUM).

In addition, the Academy of Sciences Award is an incentive to continue contributing to agricultural production in the country with efficiency, despite the difficulties; also, an incentive to minimize the impact of climate change, promote the use of biofertilizers, and give greater participation to producers.

It is a source of great pride. The researchers, producers, decision-makers who have participated, and the coordinators at all levels are reflected there. It has given me great joy, because it is the recognition to the University, to a community, and us as researchers during so many years of work.

Aramís Rivas Diéguez, the PIAL coordinator in the municipality of Jesús Menéndez and member of the municipal and provincial group of Local Development, emphasizes that the model of local agricultural innovation unites government leadership, scientific knowledge, and the work of farmers to achieve more agricultural production sustainably.

This territory in the north of the province is one of the areas that has achieved the greatest progress in the realization of this triad; hence the recognition of the locality and one of the promoters of this strategy.

"The result presented systematizes the experience of more than 12 years with tangible effects in obtaining clones, varieties, and species of crops and animals that are better adapted to the soil and climatic conditions of the region, in capacity building and in achieving a value chain approach in the agricultural activity," Aramís assures.

"The latter, he adds, implies working with the territorialization of production, which has many advantages such as job generation and infrastructure creation, among others."

A PROJECT MADE OF DREAMS AND REALITY

Raquel Ruz Reyes says that almost at the end of her professional career, a noble project, PIAL, came into her life, and to this day it has been a school and also another expression of the teaching she professes in the classroom and life.

"It allowed me to realize myself as a professional and even as a human being," she emphasizes. "Today we are in Las Tunas in all the municipalities, with thousands of producers and families accompanying us."

"PIAL does not provide the resources that farmers almost always need, but it does provide exchanges, knowledge, ways of doing things, learning. Because sometimes it is not what I did, but how I developed it so that others can do it.

"In the furrow,' she says, 'it is not about how much technology, inputs, or resources one has, but about shared knowledge and a sense of belonging to the land. This has also been one of the gifts of the PIAL, which is now in its fourth phase of implementation, already reaping advances in the agrifood and local development of the territories."

I have learned that you don't know everything. Every day the farmer transmits something to you, teaching, affection, love, knowledge about nature, about the relationship with the family, many other things. I have helped them a lot in finding the space for knowledge, but they have transformed me as a person," argues Raquel vehemently.

For Aramís, participation in the project has been professionally very valuable, as it has provided him with the skills and tools to put into practice what he plans and longs for. But, undoubtedly, he recognizes that the greatest contribution has been from the human point of view and that capital, he knows, is incalculable and inexhaustible.

"We have a group of producers who are the protagonists of the process and whose farms are the stage for the execution of each idea. These people become part of your family because of their naturalness and spontaneity," says Aramís.

For both of them, the PIAL, now SIAL (Local Agricultural Innovation System) is a beacon, and its scope goes far beyond an award. In their words, it is a process that makes you a social actor, capable of accompanying people and supporting them in the construction of their dreams, which are also ours.