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Visiting Vinales, in the western
part of Cuba more precisely in the province of Pinar del Rio,
one usually comes across the typical farmer of the valley.
Dressed in the simplest apparels with his boots, shirt, shorts
and straw hat, the farmer remains forever ready to get through a
lot of work from daybreak to dusk. Always busy preparing the
land by oxen-ploughing, sowing, finding the right crop’s time
and harvesting, the peasant in the hot tropical sun is tired and
satisfied after a day’s work in the fields. The natural
processes used in the plantation by using organic or semi
organic fertilizers, soil conservation, crop rotation and green
manure vulgarized after the collapse of the western block as
well the traditional methods applied have made Vinales a valley
of abundance. Today, Vinales is synonymous of a successful
agriculture and behind this lays the farmer. The province
harbours the following crops; tobacco, sugar, coffee, vegetable
and fruits growing over the different shades of red fertile
soil. Descendants of the Canary Islands farmers who came to Cuba
two centuries back, the descendants of the Guanatabajey
Amerindians or of slaves descents all of whom form nowadays the
population of the Cuba, the farmers have inherited their
ancestor’s patience and knowledge. |
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