Fig. 11. Commercialization of pru in a Guantanamo City market.

Near the farms, some sacred sites have been found by farmers; they venerate and protect them, as in the case of a cave known as the ‘Virgin´s Cave’, where there is a spring of pure water.

Rural schools are another way to transmit the traditional knowledge to the young members of the communities. In primary and secondary schools, address topics like ‘The World that We Live’, and others which are related to biodiversity protection and management. Workshops are also held by RBCT environmental education specialists. School gardens are created in order to familiarize children at an early age with the crop care so that they can recognize and respect the work of their parents on the farms.

The understanding of local terminology in the transmission of knowledge is a very important aspect. In Cuba each region is characterized by different language peculiarities. In the Eastern region some terms have been created over generations and they are still used today, for example: sao (means weed), foguiao (very used cultivar), bomba (artisanal vinegar) and sambumbia (pickled peppers), just to name a few. These terms can have different meanings in other Cuban regions. Surely, these terms are not used exclusively in the RBCT mountains, where these communities are located, but they are often used by inhabitants of more urbanized areas in the region.

3.4 Restoration of natural and managed ecosystems.

Cuba is located in a geographical area particularly vulnerable to climatic shocks; each year the island is affected by tropical storms and hurricanes, many of which cause serious damage to crops and natural diversity because of their intensity (PMA-IPF-Cuba, 2001). The crops which are most affected by the loss of foliage caused by the onslaught of the winds are avocado (Persea americana) and tall herbaceous crops like banana (Musa spp.), coffee (Coffea spp.) and maize (Zea mays) (Fundora-Mayor, 2011).

There are other risk factors (abiotics and biotics) such as periods of heavy and prolonged rainfall (sometimes associated with hurricanes), prolonged droughts, pests and diseases such as blight (Alternaria solani), armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), mealybug (Pseudococos sp.), which basically affect tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) and cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata).

Although there are plans to address and mitigate the damage caused by these phenomena, many times the intensity is high and does not permit a quick recovery. However, complementation of in situ and ex situ conservation from local resources has been one of the working strategies of scientific institutions linked to conservation of national genetic resources.  This way, damaged farming system could restore the agricultural diversity they had lost – that is the case of landraces of Phaseolus beans, dwarf guava and white pepper (Pimienta dioica).  The natural vegetation is reforested with natural species that have been lost or are threatened.

Usually, in order to restore the landscape, farmers develop their own initiatives: they use dead wood from forests, exchange traditional seed varieties produced and stored by themselves quickly re-plant short-cycle crops and use crop remains for animal consumption or compost production.

Almost all farmers are willing to introduce new agricultural variability and technologies, to recover their agricultural systems and obtain economic benefits for their families. Both traditional and commercial variability coexist in the farms (although local landraces are always most frequent) which ensure the production sale in the market, especially in urban markets. So, farmers sow commercial varieties such as ‘Verano 1’ pepper, ‘Velasco’ bean and ‘KK-cross´ cabbage, and at the same time they use local landraces as Cachuchón pepper and Camagüey bean, between others. They planted neem trees (Azadirachta indica) with a dual purpose, as bio-insecticide and to provide shade for other crops, they use Rhizobium strains to provide nitrogen fertilization in the agricultural fields and also use inert materials (such as sand, ash and zeolite) to store grain.

3.5 Integration of different actors in the resource management.

The resource management involves different government organizations that contribute to the sustainable development of the RBCT. The SNAP organization (which belongs to CITMA) manages directly the natural resource heritage of the Reserve and the conservation and management of agricultural resources. The latter activity is also managed by MINAG.

The NGO “National Association of Small Farmers” (ANAP) is an organization whose members are small farmers and their families. The objective of this organization is to improve the farmer´s welfare and culture. The ANAP is involved in formulating policies and strategies regarding the agricultural land and production, as well as in the economy of this sector. For these reasons, ANAP cooperates with national institutions to coordinate productive technical and socio-cultural development programs that are implemented in rural communities. Their base organizations are the Cooperatives of Credit and Services (CCS) and the Agricultural Production Cooperatives (CPA).

CPAs are economic entities that represent an advanced and efficient system of socialist production and which have their own legal entity, incorporate land and other properties offered by small farmers. Other people also participate in order to achieve a sustainable agricultural production.

Most of the farmers in the transition area belong to the CCSs, which are voluntary associations of smallholders that retain ownership of the means of production and profits. It is a form of agricultural cooperation, encouraged by the state and with legal personality which guarantees technical, financial and material assistance by the Government.

Moreover, the aim of National Urban and Suburban Agriculture Program (PNAU / SU), led by INIFAT, is to support the relationship between production, training and the technical-scientific development of Cuban agriculture, with emphasis on the exchange and dissemination of knowledge, culture and local agricultural innovation. The foundations of the movement’s actions are developed on the basis of agro-ecological and territorial sustainability. It works on technical and technological updating of the production, on capacity building and on the direct link between producers, the final agricultural production and the marketing of their products. For this reason, the PNAU/SU Program is an opportunity for farmers to sell the surplus from their farm production after the family needs are satisfied, and to obtain agricultural technical training.

Farmers use the resources available in (or around) their farms in a sustainable way, so they consider themselves as guardians of natural diversity. However, intervention actions such as logging must be authorized by CITMA and MINAG.

3.6 Benefits to the local economy and human welfare.

The earnings obtained from these traditional systems are the main source of income for farmers, which satisfy most of their material and spiritual needs. Over 90% of the family diet in the RBCT communities comes from local landraces and domestic animals kept and maintained on the farms, with the exception of products such as rice, sugar and vegetal oil, which they get in state-subsidized stores or shops regulated by supply and demand.

The marketing of farm products is done through the CCS, by which the farmer contracts products like tomatoes, beans, peppers and cabbage, required by the state and for which the state sets the prices. The surplus of these crops and other farm products are sold according to a supply and demand mechanism both in markets or selling point managed by the PNAU/SU Program, located from 10 km (local markets) to 50 km (Guantánamo City).

Agricultural fairs are another marketing method recently established in the region and implemented with a frequency of 15 days. Such fairs have benefited farmers both through the sale of seeds and agricultural products, and also through the exchange of experiences with other farmers. In RBCT´s communities there are seed sharing networks, which allow the flow of different varieties and local landraces among farmers, a phenomenon that demonstrates the ability of informal systems to conserve crop genetic resources in time. Local governments and the formal sector are interested to continue performing these activities as a way to enhance the sustainability of rural areas and to ensure the food supply of urban populations. As a result of these efforts, some local landraces have been registered in the Cuban Register of Commercial Varieties, with the name of the breeding farmers as they solved problems after natural disasters or effects caused by biotic stress. The farmer insertion into the formal seed system guarantees some additional economic benefits to them.