The fourth phase of the Local Agricultural Innovation Program (PIAL) began in San Antonio de los Baños, which will be operating until 2022. Its main objective is to contribute to food sustainability through the consolidation and extension of local management experiences of the agricultural innovation.
According to Irene Moreno, coordinator of the Project in the province, the PIAL is based on the grant from an international donor, in this case the Swiss Development Cooperation. It has 5 products for its implementation. These are the multi-actor platforms of inclusive and sustainable management, the increase of the diversity and the quantity of agricultural products, the sensitization and training of the local actors and personnel of the municipal, provincial and national institutions, the expansion of the Innovation System Agropecuaria Local (SIAL) to new territories, as well as the systematization and consolidation of good practices, methodologies and processes of the SIAL.
The coordinator also referred to the PIAL's effects. The first effect through which municipal governments, other local actors, farmers and innovators access, recognize and use the platforms of the local agricultural innovation system to solve the problems of agrifood production in their territory; and the second refers to institutions linked to agricultural innovation processes, which institutionalize the participatory innovation approach.
Seven municipalities in the province of Artemisa will develop the PIAL: Honda Bay, Bauta, Güira de Melena, Artemisa, Candelaria, San Cristóbal and San Antonio de los Baños.