Marlene and her vocation for food and nutrition security

For more than eight years, Marlene García Collado has been walking for hours through rural and urban areas of Isle of Youth to promote the propagation of the breadfruit tree (Artocarpus altilis), a perennial crop, whose vegetative cycle exceeds five decades.

A specialist and researcher of the Technological Dissemination Group, attached to the Tropical Fruit Growing Research Institute, since 2014 she has been leading two projects related to this tropical tree of great diversity (more than 120 types) that can reach 26 meters (85 feet) in height.

In statements to ACN, she said that the main results of the research are associated with the distribution and propagation of the species (native to Oceania) and the culinary arts, as well as with farmhouse flour production.

“The first result of the project in terms of food and nutritional security is that the breadfruit tree is spread throughout the region,” said the agronomic engineer, laptop in hand, as if she did not want to overlook any detail.

“Once the field work was done, I classify the trees according to location: yards, plots, farms and city areas, and I concluded that three species and a variety grow in the Isle of Youth, unlike what we see in the rest of Cuba,” she remarked.

She also explained that her projects led to the establishment of PANISLA, a group of 50 people who either have the proper skills and knowledge to work with this species or dedicate to the culinary arts using this fruit, popular in the Isle as a root vegetable.

Based on breadfruit’s benefits for human health and as a major import substitute, this woman of science set up a microindustry to produce gluten-free flour (protein found in wheat, oats, barley and rye) for the 67 locals diagnosed with malabsorption syndrome.

According to a report issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the developing countries’ dependence on imports is likely to increase by 2030.

Ms. García, who is also a university professor, highlighted the economic and social importance of this type of perennial plant, as it increases soil productivity and thus becomes a source of animal and human food. It also makes it possible to create a new large-scale sustainable industry based on mapen, a source of potassium, rich in vitamins A and C.

Marlene García Collado's vocation for food and nutritional security makes her the torchbearer of an environmentally friendly local development project that gives priority to gender balance in the workforce, pursuant to the Sustainable Development Goals for the year 2030.