An agro-innovation fair was held on Wednesday at the Rolando Ayub coffee company in Contramaestre as part of the activities for the first graduation of the Local Agricultural Innovation System specialty in the province of Santiago de Cuba.
The graduation exercise was held in this southeastern territory precisely because it is eminently agricultural and because the implementation of the projects presented is intended to put science, technology and innovation in terms of increasing the quantity and quality of local agricultural production as one of the priorities in the municipal strategy for development.
The Fair was attended by producers, agricultural specialists from the Universidad de Oriente and the Municipal University Center (CUM), as well as graduating students of the specialty.
The opening remarks of the event were given by Wilder Sánchez Bell, PhD in Pedagogical Sciences, professor at the Universidad de Oriente, who said: “We are welcoming you to the opening of this fair within the framework of the local agricultural innovation specialty, a specialty that belongs to the Agricultural Research Institute located in the province of Mayabeque and that has the intention of energizing the innovation processes within agriculture for food production. We thank all those who have come and have given their willingness to participate with us and show us their experiences and contribute their grain of sand to the agricultural development of the territory”.
Graduates for innovation
Damaris Sarmiento Duany, PhD in Sciences, full professor of the CUM of Contramaestre, who is also the coordinator of the specialty Local Agricultural Innovation System, referred to the importance for Contramestre to have graduates in this specialty to promote the development of the territory and said:
From the municipal strategy for local development, it is very important to have graduates in this specialty:
“From the municipal strategy for local development we intend to put science, technology and innovation in function of the agricultural production that the population of Contramaestre needs so much. It is not enough that the local agricultural fair is held on Saturdays, but the main authorities of the municipality have the responsibility to guarantee the feeding of the people on a daily basis and they are also accompanying us in this great event. If the knowledge acquired by the trainees is applied, we will obviously have better results”.
The Local Agricultural Innovation System proposes a dialogue between academic and farmer knowledge, but also seeks to promote networks that mobilize capacities for local development.
