Plataform for the food security and sovereignty: agricultural biodiversity in Cuba

Abstract

The researches on in situ conservation of plant genetic resources in Cuba have demonstrated the value of the home gardens and farms of the rural areas in the maintenance of the traditional agricultural biodiversity through their use, especially in areas linked to the Cuban biosphere reserves. Their managed should be considered in an integral way, keeping in mind all the aspects (natural, socio-economic and cultural) that impact in its conservation. The sustainable character of the home gardens in the transition areas became them in economically stable units that achieve a balance with its environment, through the use of a high diversity of species for the sustenance of the family, where the traditional crops are the base of the human and animal feeding. As the biological diversity it intervenes in all the sectors of the society, it demands a multidisciplinary focus and it is important to stimulate rural communities, recognizing their paper in its conservation, important factor to be kept in mind in the implementation of strategies of sustainable development, since they will be key actors in the proposal and implementation of national strategies of in situ conservation with ecosystem focus, incorporating the traditional biodiversity maintained in the home gardens and farms, which is the main reservoir of Cuban agricultural diversity that constitutes the platform to achieve the security and the alimentary sovereignty.