Welcome to the field tour of the V International Symposium on Tropical and Subtropical Fruit Growing

In Cuba, the farm is currently the primary fruit production unit, either for the private and the public sector. In recent years, the new strategy of the country to achieve a sustainable agricultural development, that has included the delivery of empty lands to new growers, has boosted the planting and rescue of fruit crops. It has been implemented both in productive clusters and in the urban and suburban agriculture. The final objective is to maintain a stable fruit supply for the consumption of the population and as a way to minimize the climate change effect. Some scientific institutions of the country, among which the Tropical Fruit Crops Research Institute stands out, have reached important results in fruit crops development. Among the results, mention can be made of grove management, phytogenetic resources, breeding, diagnostic and pest management, plant physiology, harvest, postharvest and industrial processing. The field tour organized within the V International Symposium of Tropical and Subtropical Fruit Growing looks mainly at showing the principal young developing and production areas of citrus (single-crop system) and other fruit crops, the last one under de integral farm scheme. Also, in order to favor the exchange of experts, technicians, growers and participants at the Symposium on the main challenges and solutions imposed by fruit crops development. The guides chosen for this field tour have a vast experience, both on research to develop these crops and in managing, processing and commercialization of fresh products. All of them are native of Matanzas province, Jagüey Grande municipality, and expect to turn this visit into a great experience for participants through a fruitful theoretical and practical exchange. This tour will start in Havana on October 19th, and will extend to Jagüey Grande municipality in Matanzas province. Jagüey Grande is located in Western region of Cuba at approximately 150 km from Havana. The tour lasts one day and covers the following schedule:

19/10/2017

7:00 am Departure from the National Hotel of Cuba to the municipality of Jagüey Grande, Matanzas province.

9:30 am-. Arrival to the Credit and Service Cooperative (CCS) “Wilfredo Díaz”, of Jagüey Grande. A slight snack will be provided.

10:00 am Visit to groves and comprehensive fruit farms of the above-mentioned Cooperative. Exchange with leading growers, experts and technicians in fruit crop management (Time: 10:00 am - 11:00 am).

11:00 am Visit to the Agroindustrial Enterprise “Victoria de Girón”, also in the municipality of Jagüey Grande, Matanzas province.

11:30 am Tour to the commercial citrus groves of this Enterprise. Exchange with experts and technicians in citrus management (Time: 11:30 am - 12:30 pm).

12:30 pm Visit to the conditioning and packing center, processing plant “Héroes de Girón” and the mini-industry of the Agroindustrial Enterprise “Victoria de Girón”. Visit to the facilities and exchange with experts and technicians on the main current products. (Time: 12:30 pm-1:30 pm).

1:30 pm Lunch at the Agroindustrial Enterprise “Victoria de Girón” (Time: 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm).

2:30 pm Tour to tourist resorts of the Zapata Wetland. 5:30 pm Return to Havana 7:00 pm Arrival to the National Hotel of Cuba

Matanzas

Matanzas is the most central of Cuba’s Western provinces. It limits to the West with the province of Mayabeque, to the South with the Caribbean Sea, to the North with the Strait of Florida and to the East with Villa Clara and Cienfuegos provinces. It is also one of the most beautiful Cuban provinces that host two of the most important tourist clusters of the country: Varadero beach and the Zapata Wetland. The territory is an important developing area where citrus is an outstanding economic item of the agricultural richness of the province. The municipality of Jagüey Grande is one of the 22 municipalities of Matanzas province. It is located at the Central-South portion of the province, at the Havana-Matanzas plain and at 10 meters above sea level. Its territory covers 132 Km2. The soil is made up of Matanzas clay (red ferralitic); with flat surface that turns very swampy as you move southward because it includes a portion of the Zapata Wetland.

General information of the visits

Visit to the Credit and Service Cooperative (CCS) “Wilfredo Díaz”,

Matanzas The groves of this Cooperative are characterized by using crop association of short, intermediate and long term productive cycles; a technology aimed at increasing yields, incomes, stability and higher salaries for the manpower of the area. The Cooperative also has young and bearing groves, where fruits like red mammee (Pouteria sapota Jacq.), mango (Mangifera indica L.), avocado (Persea americana Mill.), papaya (Carica papaya L.) and guava (Psidium guajava L.), among others, are planted together.

The visit will be guided by the specialist Lázaro García Cabeza, President of the Credit and Service Cooperative (CCS) “Wilfredo Díaz”

Empresa Agroindustrial

Victoria de Girón

Villa Guamá

MATANZAS

Visit to the Agroindustrial Enterprise “Victoria de Girón”, Matanzas The Agroindustrial Enterprise “Victoria de Girón” was founded in 1967. It covers an area of 500 Km2 at the Central-Sourth part of Matanzas province. It is the largest agricultural and industrial citrus enterprise in the country. This institution is currently diversified with greenhouse crops, mainly tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. There are also fruit crops like mango (Mangifera indica L.) with three thousand and 34 ha, pinneapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr, and guava (Psidium guajava L). Livestock farming is another productive item of the Enterprise, a productive entity that distinguishes by the professionalism of its workers, manpower attention, productive and economic results as well as for the different awards received as Exporting Enterprise, National Quality Award, and Commercial Awards in different national and international Fairs. The products of this Enterprise are identified and commercialized under the commercial brand "Cubanita". The largest producer and exporter of citrus fruits and juices in Cuba is 140 Km away from Havana and 191 Km away from the Mariel Development Zone (where there is a container terminal).

Citrus groves of the Agroindustrial Enterprise “Victoria de Girón”, Matanzas

This Enterprise has at present a total of 10 thousand 180 hectares of citrus, out of which, three thousand 326 hectares are young groves and six thousand 854 hectares are bearing groves. Among the citrus species planted are: oranges (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) and grapefruits (Citrus paradisi Macf.) mainly, though there are also groves of lemons (Citrus limon (L) Burm. F.), limes (Citrus latifolia

Tanaka) and mandarins (Citrus reticulata Hort. ex Tan.).

The visit will be guided by Arsenio Israel González Rodríguez, Director of Citrus and other Fruit Crops at such enterprise since 2014. Graduate of Agronomical engineering in 1997, at the University of Matanzas, “Camilo Cienfuegos”, and then of Master in Tropical Fruit growing in 2010.

The Agroindustrial Enterprise "Victoria de Girón" has, among its priorities, to increase citrus yields with less planted area by using closer spacing in the new groves (in oranges, from 313 trees / ha to more than 700 trees; and in grapefruit from 200 trees / ha to 500 trees) using good agricultural practices. Low-volume irrigation and fertilization are technologies that allow increasing the efficient use of water and nutrients to favor plants development. They bring about significant energy, water and fertilizers economizing while increasing yields per hectare. Another productive technology of the Agroindustrial Enterprise “Victoria de Girón”, implemented from integrated pruning strategies, is the production of charcoal, mainly for export. On the other hand, seedling production has gone through different technologies and at present, one of the most advanced in the world is in place. Under a crop protected system, rootstocks, planting material and certified seedlings are produced which allows for annual planting rates of more than thousands hectares. The new groves are established with trees of higher genetic quality and with irrigation systems already in place, thus favoring a higher production per hectare and a higher tolerance to pests.

Packing and conditioning center, The processing Managerial Unit (UEB) “Héroes de Girón”. Agroindustrial Enterprise “Victoria de Girón”, Matanzas.

The visit will be guided by the Agronomical Engineer Carlos Alberto Fierro Abreu, Director of the “Héroes de Girón” Processing Unit.

This Managerial Unit has a processing capacity that exceeds 80 thousand tonnes of citrus and other fruits like pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr), mango (Mangifera indica L.) and guava (Psidium guajava L.) per hour; it also processes tomatoes. It has a cold storage facility at the port of Matanzas (96 km from the Enterprise) with a capacity (freezing and conservation) of five thousand and 500 tonnes of products. This processing unit is member of the International Association of Fruit Juice Producers (IFU) and also member of SGF (Sure Global Fair). Its products comply with a Quality Management System which meets the requirements of the ISO 9001:2008, certified by Bureau Veritas. The byproducts of this processing unit include cold-pressed essential oil of grapefruit and oranges, distilled oils of both varieties, which make up another range of “Cubanita” products. These byproducts, and the frozen concentrated juices of grapefruit and oranges, single-strength juices of both varieties as well as aseptic juices, guava and mango puree are certified by Kosher and can be considered as Halal and Vegan (no additives, without genetically-modified organisms and without allergens).

“Cubanita”, the commercial brand of the Agroindustrial Enterprise “Victoria de Girón”, in addition to juices and byproducts, also incorporates to its product portfolio fresh vegetables for the tourist industry. It has been represented at different promotional and commercial fairs by the promotion of tomatoes and cucumbers, which stand out by their high content of vitamins and minerals. The Agroindustrial Enterprise “Victoria de Girón” is interested in the environment conservation, both for agricultural and industrial operations. In this way, it contributes to an ecologically sustainable world. It is the Cuba’s leading citrus Enterprise married to excellence for over 50 years.

Touristic package for the field tour. The Zapata Wetland, Matanzas

The Zapata Wetland covers an area of 10 thousand 499 km2, it is located at the South of Matanzas province. It is the largest wetland of the Caribbean and it was declared Biosphere Reserve in the year 2000. This area hosts an exceptional reserve of plant and animal life, supported by the presence of more than 900 plant species, 160 bird species and several species of mammals, fishes, amphibian, reptiles, among which the Cuban crocodile stands out. Among the most visited tourist resorts of this region are: - The Crocodile Breeding Center: The Cuba’s largest crocodile breeding center is located at the Treasure Lagoon. It was created in the early 60s and is the responsible of protecting, reproducing and selling existing species that are the Cuban crocodile and the American crocodile. These two species have mated in time giving way to a hybrid. It is one of the most attractive, popular and visited tourist resorts where several national and foreign tourists meet to take a picture back home with a small crocodile specimen.

- The Fish Natural Well or Cenote: it is located between Playa Larga and Playa Girón; it is an impressive 70 meters deep natural swimming pool that communicates with the sea by an underground pathway. This famous well is a cenote, a flooded cave whose roof collapsed hundreds of years ago giving place to a small and deep lagoon where you can snorkel, enjoy diving with oxygen tanks and see the beauty of the cave and colored tropical fishes. In this place there is a typical bar with a wide grastronomical offer including seafood and crocodile meat. The trip costs 35 CUC, which are not included in the registration fee of the Symposium. They cover transportation and lunch of the participants. They should be paid at registration the first day of the event. You can apply for inclusion in the trip by e-mail to the Organizing Committee (fruticultura2017@iift.cu) or making it clear at the registration form.