The man who transformed a land of rocks into the most fertile land of the world.
In the picture Fernando Funes, Agricultural Engineer, in “Finca Marta” a land at 20 kilometers of Havana, Cuba. He cultivates more than 60 species in Finca Marta, a sustentable-ecological farm he attends and works with his wife.
Today, his land is among the most productive lands in the world, and his employees are among the best paid. However, only four years ago, these lands were very different from how they are today. What is now a fertile, softly undulating land, was then compact soil, full of stones, woody marabu and lacking any water. Some believe that you have to be very ignorant or extremely crazy to think that an ecological, self-sustainable, agricultural project could be successful in such land. To give life to his project Fernando had to abandon the agricultural theory he believed in since he earned his doctorate in Holland; and, his wife had to renounce to her position with Melia Hotel International. Both felt as if they were taking a leap of faith, jumping into the dark. Nevertheless, they found themselves landing on their feet.
The beginning, they say, was very difficult; it took them seven months to open a water hole, breaking the stone in the ground manually, armed mainly with a pry bar. And yet, with effort, there were results. The first thing they were able to commercialize was mangoes which they collect opening paths through the wooden marabou with their bare hands.
Agriculture in Cuba was always complicated. Many slaves died because of failed attempts by colonizers trying to make these lands produce more than they could produce. Nature has also been devastated because it has not been treated properly. “Theory helps you understand the world in pieces; practice, however, is multi-dimensional, multi-directional and complex. One of the motivations I had to develop this project was precisely to try to understand agriculture from inside, within its own contradictions, within its own challenges,” said Funes.
Now he wants to spread his work so others get the courage to start agro-ecological projects as miraculous as his all over the world.
Eco-Portal -English translation: Nora Fernandez
El hombre que convirtió un páramo de piedra en la tierra más fértil del mundoEco-Portal -English translation: Nora Fernandez
El Ingeniero Agrónomo Fernando Funes posa en la Finca Marta, a 20 kilómetros de La Habana, en Cuba. Allí cultiva más de 60 especies en la granja autoecológica y sustentable que mantiene junto a su esposa.
Su tierra es de las más productivas del mundo y sus empleados son de los que mejores salarios cobran. Pero estas tierras, cuatro años atrás, no tenían para nada la apariencia que tiene hoy. Lo que ahora es la granja era un lomerío de tierra compacta, llena de piedras, tupida de marabú y sin agua. Había que ser muy ignorante o estar extremadamente loco para pensar que allí podría funcionar un proyecto de agricultura ecológica y autosustentable. Para dar vida a este proyecto, Fernando dejó la agricultura teórica, que ejercía desde que se doctoró en Holanda, y su esposa renunció a su trabajo en la cadena hotelera Meliá. Ambos se sintieron saltando al vacío, pero cayeron de pie.
El comienzo fue difícil: tardaron 7 meses en abrir su pozo de agua rompiendo la roca a mano, armados tan solo de una barreta. Sin embargo, con el esfuerzo llegaron los resultados. Lo primero que comercializaron fueron los mangos, que pudieron cosechar abriéndose paso entre el marabú con sus propias manos.
La agricultura en Cuba siempre fue complicada. Muchos esclavos murieron a costa de los intentos inútiles de los colonizadores de hacer que las tierras produjeran más de lo que podían.
También la naturaleza fue devastada por no ser tratada de forma correcta.
"La teoría te lleva a entender el mundo en pedazos. En cambio, la práctica es multidimensional, multidireccional, compleja. Una de las motivaciones para desarrollar este proyecto es poder entender la agricultura desde dentro, desde sus propias contradicciones, desde sus propios retos", cuenta Funes en una entrevista.
Ahora, busca difundir su trabajo para que muchos puedan animarse, en todo el mundo, a emprender proyectos agroecológicos tan milagrosos como el suyo.
Ecoportal.net
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