Earth Equity News

Cuban Scientists, Farmers Fighting Climate Change. By Patricia Grogg, IPS, September 10, 2009. "Cuba is facing the challenge of boosting agricultural output under difficult climate conditions and on soils badly deteriorated by erosion, salinity and other problems. And scientists have a strategic role to play, provided they do not sit in their laboratories but get out into the fields where the action is...'To respond to this challenge, 'Cuba possesses a potential range of species and varieties that allow cultivation of specific foods under particular climate conditions,' said Rodríguez, the head of the National Research Institute of Tropical Root Vegetables (INIVIT) in the central province of Villa Clara... 'The situation is improving with the use of farm animals to work the land, and organic fertilizers and biological control methods instead of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. I would say we are moving towards a low-input, economically sustainable agriculture that is less harmful to the environment,' he said…Cuban scientists warn that climate change poses a threat to sustainable development in the country, and point to the increased force of hurricanes, more frequent droughts, more tornadoes and heavy rainstorms, and changes in the patterns of crop growth and yields, among other meteorological signs."