Only 48 members remain in the Alianza Obrero-Campesina agricultural production cooperative (CPA in Spanish), in the municipality of Amancio, in the province of Las Tunas. However, the unit remains among the best performers in the collection of milk and the delivery of beef.

“Amancio,” Las Tunas.- This is what the president of the unit, Jorge Carmenate Pérez, who guides the small collective in an exemplary manner, proudly says. On 850 hectares, they produce food for the residents of Kilometer 15 and other areas of the southern territory.

“The cooperative's main activity is cattle raising, and we sell approximately 90 percent of the milk to the industry. The rest is destined for the self-consumption of the cooperative members and retirees who are cared for as long as they live because that is precisely one of the objectives of the entity."

"Last year, we met the main indicators, and so far, we are doing well. Even now, milk and meat production will improve because the best stage is arriving. With the rainfall, the pastures are greening up, there is more food, and many calves are being born.”

It sounds easy to say, but it is not, because there is always a lot of work to be done. And it is not enough to lock the cattle in the corrals, guarantee water, release them in the pastures, or watch them all the time, because the criminals are always on the lookout, waiting for the slightest carelessness.

"There is no rest here. Now, we are applying alternatives with attention to the calving cows, giving semi-stabled feeding to the mothers and calves because if the calves are taken care of, they need less milk, and we deliver more."

"To meet this year's plan of 90 thousand liters, we planted areas of animal feed in the cooperative. There is a compact area that has 10 hectares of sugarcane, in addition to tithonia and moringa, protein plants that we mix with the other feeds."

In the CPA, there are also plantations of various crops, especially viands and vegetables. Everything that is produced is sold to the State, both to the Collection Company and Frutas Selectas, and various organizations, including Health and Education.

"This is everyone's job. In the organoponic, we have two women, full-time, but when we need some support, the rest of us are there. It is the same for sowing or cleaning as for harvesting the crops during harvest peaks."

"It is also everyone's job to keep the neighborhood clean and tidy, especially the area where the cooperative's offices are located. When someone is half-heartedly forgetting their duties, we knock on their door to remind them. Here, we don't have to tell people things."

"For the most part, the neighbors are workers in the unit, and they have been educated in these rules; they have created the habit of keeping the environment as clean as possible. And it is that the cooperative is the soul of the community, and the raison d'être of the community is the cooperative."

The “Alianza Obrero-Campesina” guarantees short-cycle crops for the self-sufficiency of cooperative and family members, and neighbors of the settlement, through a point of sale that is supplied twice a week and that responds to the good yields of the fields.

"We cannot give up here; we have to think of solutions that provide more food. This is what we have to do, and we do it.”