Organic seed systems in response to agro-chemical deficit in Cuba
Date
2004
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Publisher
National Institute of Agricultural Sciences?, Havana, Cu
Abstract
Nowadays one of the most discussed themes in agriculture is the relationship between agrobiodiversity and crop yield, frequently conventional agriculture increase yield by agrochemical inputs, however it seems to be possible to increase yield widening genetic diversity in the farm. The formal agricultural research and development sector in Cuba has been considerably curtailed by budget cuts (American dollars). One of the consequences of the economic crisis that Cuba is experiencing has been the rapid deterioration of the conventional centralized seed production improvement and distribution system. At the same time, also as another consequence of the crisis, agricultural production in the country was moving away from an exported- oriented, monoculture based and high- input dependent system, to a more diversified, low- input and local- market oriented production. Together, these dramatic changes are opening up the space for paying attention to participative seed improvement and distribution practices under organic and low input agriculture. Participatory Plant Breeding in Cuba have been filling gaps in decision making and knowledge diffusion (moving to farmers), there are some advances on farmers empowering as: a wider varieties access, strong participation in decision making at community level, less external input dependency, higher yield, increasing knowledge exchange and agrobiodiversity in different crops. There are interesting results on the economic benefices in farmers selecting varieties from a wide genetic diversity on farms.
Description
Meeting: Seed Organic Conference, July 2004, FAO, Rome
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Conference Paper
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Keywords
CROP DIVERSIFICATION, PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH, PLANT BREEDING, SOIL FERTILITY, CUBA