Cuba to host international workshop on sustainable agriculture

Matanzas, Cuba, Dec 9 (ACN) The International Scientific Workshop "Biochar in sustainable agriculture" will be held in 2023 at the Indio Hatuey Experimental Station of Pastures and Forages, located in the western province of Matanzas.

The aim of the event will be to discuss practices related to the use of organic materials for food production, focusing on the use of biochar, obtained from plant remains and biomass, which is applied to the soil to improve its properties.

Yuvan Contino Esquijerosa, researcher at the institution, told the Cuban News Agency that the event will be held in early 2023, when the national project on biochar in Cuba will conclude.

Among the topics to be discussed, according to the call, are the optimization of the flow of woody residual biomass and its economic evaluation, the methods and technologies for the transformation of biomass to be recycled as fertilizer or animal supplement, and the efficiency of animal nutrition and recycling in livestock facilities.

According to Gertrudis Penton Fernandez, agricultural engineer and project leader of Indio Hatuey, experts from France, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Panama expressed their intention to participate.

In addition to the Station itself, the Workshop is sponsored by the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the University of Matanzas and the National Center for Agricultural Health (CENSA by its Spanish acronym) of the Ministry of Higher Education of Cuba, and the Ithaka Institute from Switzerland.