Twitter / @JoseCarlosRRuiz
By María Josefina Arce
At the ExpoCaribe 2022 Fair, held late last month in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, one of the projects that aroused great interest from Caribbean entrepreneurs was BioCubaCafé, which -- as its name suggests -- involves that rich and coveted nectar.
Cuba is a traditional producer of coffee, considered by experts of high quality for its low acidity, great body and medium intensity, which makes the delight of those who consume it.
Now it has been developing since 2018 this initiative that bets on a good and clean product, without the use of chemicals thanks to sustainable agriculture, which unites enormous benefits for both the environment and health.
This option, in addition to being part of Cuba's commitment to agroecology, makes it possible to circumvent the lack of inputs, an obstacle imposed by the U.S. blockade, which strongly affects agriculture.
It is a joint project between the Agroforestry Business Group of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Italian Agency for Cultural and Economic Exchange with Cuba and the Lavazza Foundation, dedicated to the production of coffee products distributed in more than 100 countries.
It is known in our country for presenting in November 2019, in tribute to the 500th anniversary of the founding of Havana, a special blend called "¡Tierra!La Habana", made with a selection of beans from various coffee plantations in the Greater Antilles.
The joint program that is now being developed in Cuban territory involves 170 producers from the provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Granma, who are working to cultivate the bean organically.
But BioCubacafe is already known beyond our borders. It was presented to great acclaim at World of Coffee 2022, the most important coffee trade fair in Europe, held last June in the Italian city of Milan.
And the good news continues. In September this project will be presented at the Salon del Gusto, in the city of Turin, an important business center in northern Italy.
Cuba is committed to boosting the coffee industry in the eastern part of its territory, given the high quality of the bean harvested there, which makes it possible to produce a high quality product that meets the demanding requirements of the international market. Biocubacafé, which has already received the International Organic Certification, is part of these plans, and in addition to its aspirations to generate foreign currency for the country, it is also concerned about the environment, an urgent need of these times.
