In the community of Paso Pata, located southeast of the municipality of Jesús Menéndez, they look to the future with optimism. A node for the slaughter and processing of small livestock - sheep, goats, and rabbits - is leading to expectations that the efforts to achieve food sovereignty in Cuba will bear fruit, little by little and with the intervention of everyone.

“Jesús Menéndez,” Las Tunas.- If the initiative materializes in line with its objectives, and is not delayed and lost amidst the many daily urgencies, its valuable contribution will only be a matter of time.

These ideas inspire Georgelina Rodríguez Pérez, head of the Agricultural Agency of the Azcuba Group Logistics Company (Azumat, in Spanish) in the municipality, and she is right, according to her account, because such an establishment has unquestionable advantages.

She explains that the facility can slaughter 50 animals daily as part of the processing of butchering and packaging. "We have all the equipment to take on this dynamic that allows for better use of the meat, greater food safety, and quality in the presentation of the offerings.”

After its start-up, the raw material will be assured from its breeding, and by contracting with private producers, state entities, and other agencies that require these services.

“We will also supply goat's milk to the cheese node and provide services to our organization and others,” she adds.

The attention to their workers and those of the agro-sugar sector in general, plus the agricultural fairs of the municipality are, so far, the primary destination of the production, without renouncing future sales in MLC to ensure the project sustainability, confirms the directive.

Rodríguez Pérez is enthusiastic about the agreement signed with the Municipal University Center and the close links developed to improve the soil and promote animal husbandry and food cultivation.

“We have great prospects with our insertion in the local development programs here,’ she emphasizes, referring to the partnership with Cubasolar. We are the first state-owned company of ‘Jesús Menéndez’ integrated into this projection, which offers many benefits for sustainable development and the future,” she confirmed.

She is already thinking about photovoltaic fencing in sheep and goat breeding areas, its usefulness for energy saving and caring for the environment, and the possibilities of more income for the collective that these alliances will bring about.