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FAO Representative Praises Food Security in Cuba.

CUBA, March 10, 2011.- The representative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Cuba, Brazilian Marcio Porto, said that the Cuban State guarantees and promotes efforts to strengthen sustainable food security to its people.

Porto, who participated on Wednesday in the activities to mark the 49th anniversary of the foundation of the Indio Hatuey Experimental Station of Pasture and Forage in the western province of Matanzas, told ACN that the Cuban Government supports FAO in all its projects in the Caribbean nation.

The FAO representative —accompanied by the director of the scientific research center, Giraldo Martin— toured the facility, which currently works on the development of agro-ecology as the base to guarantee food sovereignty.

The expert praised the importance of the institution due to its infrastructure, its intellectual and technical capacity, and its purpose to develop sustainable agriculture and to produce food for humans and animals.

Referring to the current world food crisis, Porto said: “This crisis began when men turned food into a business and it will end when we are able to produce what we eat.”

The Indio Hatuey Experimental Station of Pasture and Forage will carry out, until March 2012, a program of activities to celebrate their 50th anniversary, including scientific events and the first graduation of agronomic engineers from its university center.

(Cubaminrex – ACN)