by From Nelson Acosta
Havana (Reuters) -In one of the poorest districts in Havana is shipping a unique start -up small container with sprouts in high -altitude restaurants in other parts of the city, while the neighbors have difficulty feeding their families in the middle of the worst economic crisis for decades.
The architect Oliesky Fabre, the founder of Enparalelo (parallel roads), recently showed a pride in an award for the UN World Food Program 2022. It was one of 10 projects, of 200 initiatives that are considered the most innovative solutions for combating hunger in Latin America and in the Caribbean.
“We are a business, but also the engine for a local development project,” said Fabre when he worked in one of two renovated shipping tanks on a free property in La Timba Barrio.
The business started on Fabres Balcony when the Covid 19 pandemic raged and traditional Cuban agriculture began a decline of more than 50% last year, according to the government.
Enparalelo now works out of the containers and builds a larger production facility near the country that was donated by the local government.
“Microgreens are with a high diet, relatively inexpensive and easy to grow,” said Fabre.
Jorge Pena, responsible for the community side of the business, said that the second container, which is equipped with wheels, comes into play.
“This place serves as a classroom for residents who are interested in becoming microgre farmers,” he said.
The start-up provides seeds and other objects such as coconut fiber network that are used instead of soil to expand the microgreens, explained Pena.
The new urban breeders at home can then sell their microgreens to the company, but also to neighbors and keep some for their own consumption, he said.
“We have transformed this container into a company that can travel here in La Timba and then to different communities,” said Pena.
“We will inspire a new generation of producers,” he said.
(Reporting by Nelson Acosta and Alien Fernandez; writing by Marc Frank; Editor of Patricia Reaney)
