This award-winning CIDA-partnership project brought together - in a farmer-to-farmer framework - the expertise and animal husbandry skills of Canadian dairy farmers with the ingenuity of Cuba's intensive pasture management methods to amplify and document a sustainable, pasture-based dairy production system that could serve as a model for Latin America. Results have included doubling of milk production while decreasing dependency on feed imports.

This project won the AMEC Award for Sustainable Development of Natural Resources or Environmental Protection in the 2007 Canadian Awards for International Cooperation. It was a one-year demonstration project in Havana Province, Cuba, in which Canadian dairy farmers shared their experience in herd management with Cuban farmers to increase milk production from sustainable, pasture-based dairy units. A CIDA Partnership project, it has doubled milk production at the local cooperative farm (CPA); and as the Project’s grass/legume rotational pastures become fully established in 2007, further production increases are anticipated.

Next Phase: Building a Peri-Urban Model Based on Sewage-to-Milk

Inspired by the success of the project and the enthusiasm of the participants, ICSC is working with Cuban partner ANAP on a new project to replicate the success of the pilot project in a peri-urban setting. Fondly referred to as “sewage to milk,” the plan is to filter the sewage of the drought-challenged town of Bayamo through wetlands in order to irrigate and fertilize the dairy pastures. The 3-year project will enhance the environment, improve drinking water quality, and create new production capacity for surrounding farms. The project will not only develop technical expertise, but also include education and community engagement. The model will influence and help to develop new institutional capacities, policies and practices around sustainable development and reliable economic management

Background

Location: Cuba

Dates: 2004-

Partners: ANAP (National Association of Cuban Farmers), Agricultural Production Cooperative CPA 26 Julio (local farmers cooperative)

Key Issues: Capacity building, Food security, Economic sustainability, Environmental agriculture management, Poverty reduction

Funders: CIDA, ICSC, Private donations, Gallagher Canada, Gallagher New Zealand

Final Reports/Publications: http://www.farmertofarmer.ca/esdpcc.html