The current sowing campaign of agricultural lines that will last from this month to February, will enhance vegetables  and beans crops in the Holguín province as one of the priorities of the Ministry of Agriculture towards a progressive increase in food production.

Farmers, as a predominant force in this branch within the Holguín territory, will assume the bulk of this program and the rest of the areas to be planted will be in charge of state entities, basically concentrated on the different agricultural areas of the province, among which stand out for their productive potentials those of Mayarí-Cueto, Limoncito, La Yuraguana, Velasco and Beola.

Carlos Alberto Ricardo Ledea, specialist in the provincial delegation of agriculture, confirmed that the comprehensive planting plan in this period is estimated at 32 thousand 400 hectares, of which about 19 thousand will be dedicated to vegetables and grains, crops that will have in this time a slight increase in irrigation systems.

On this line, precisely, the province expanded so far this year the investments on the main agricultural entities of the territory, especially those areas linked to the hydraulic works of the east-west diversion, which is under construction, mainly in territories of Mayarí and Cueto, but also Velazco and Rafael Freyre.


The director of agriculture highlighted the availability of the sector with regard to machinery for working the land and other means that could be used as alternatives despite fuel limitations, specifically animal traction force.

The planting plans, he said, have been growing progressively in Holguín territories for about five years in almost two thousand hectares and currently it is estimated to reach its peak in the last five years with 32 thousand 400 hectares engaged.

A team of researchers from the Institute of Materials Science and Technology, of the University of Havana, established the basis for new procedures for the rational and sustainable evaluation of lateritic minerals in the province of Holguín.

The authors of the innovative initiative carried out with their samples a chemical analysis with an ionization source and an optical emission spectrophotometer that served to develop a methodology, according to information from the Academy of Sciences of Cuba (ACC).

In their tests, they used the laser excitation spectroscopy technique, which reduces environmental damage, and created a novel strategy called multienergy calibration applied to solid evidence, especially in the province of Holguín, which stands out for its mineral productions of nickel, cobalt, chromium and iron.

ACC specialists considered that the published results are original and interpreted, for the first time, as mechanisms of excitation and load transport, with an adequate characterization that allows developing chemical analysis of greater precision.

Seven specialized publications and dozens of papers at national and international events endorse this work and during the research two postgraduate theses of masters and doctorates were exposed with relevant results.

However, it also allowed a more accurate examination of other important metals in nickel samples and the daily work of the Cuban industry.

Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, President of the Councils of State and Ministers, confirmed last May the nickel development programs in areas of the mining-metallurgical municipality of Moa, about 180 kilometers northwest of the city of Holguín, capital of the province of the same name.

Díaz-Canel held meetings with workers and managers of the Comandante Pedro Sotto Alba nickel factory, the main processing center for that mineral on the Island, which is included among the products of greatest impact on Cuba's exportable programs.

At the factory, he learned about the current state of production plans that, according to the deputy general manager of the entity, engineer Carlos Iglesia, showed a 5 percent over-compliance from January to last May, a stimulating indicator for a well-known company in the national economy.

He also observed that Pedro Sotto Alba, with more than 1,900 workers, records favorable results in the investments of its main production areas along with the maintenance of equipment and other manufacturing facilities.

As a therapeutic alternative for the population in the Holguín province pharmacies, a group of drugs of natural origin is sold, mostly without restrictions.

Among the most demanded are the bottles of Asmacán, a product made by the Labiofam Business Group with expectorant pharmacological action and prophylactic or adjuvant use in people with high levels of oxidative stress.

This medicine made of Hibiscus elatus (Majagua) flower extract, sap of pseudo stem of Musa spp, honey, and aloe barbadenis gel (aloe and propolin), has no contraindications. Only patients allergic to hive products should refrain from taking it.   

Asmacán can be given to adults as well as children, whose dose should be one teaspoon (5 ml) before food intake, three times a day; and for older people the dosage is one tablespoon. (15 ml) with similar frequency to the former.

Another product on sale is the Nutrisol dietary supplement, made of sap of pseudo stem of Musa spp, honey and propolin, containing a mixture of bioactive substances, including proanthocyanidins, flavonoids, unsaturated fatty acids and minerals.

Doctors indicate this drug to increase appetite and restore the nutritional status of patients. Ms. Mariagni Fernández Suárez, head of the Pharmaceutical Services Section of the provincial Health Directorate, reported that Trofín will be distributed next week, a Cuban product of natural origin with anti-anemic properties and one of the most demanded by the population; as well as Neotrophin tablets, which is a variant of that restorative.

Moreover, during these days bottles of Abexol tablets, antioxidant that protects the gastric mucous, have been present in pharmacies for sale. Each of its 30 tablets contains beeswax alcohol extract and its price is nine pesos with 75 cents each flask.

On the other hand, the official explained, in addition, the pharmacy relocated in Maceo and Aricochea has a professional team prepared to respond to requests for preparation of master formulas, after a medical prescription. There it can be prepared the following products:

Chromium mercury at 2%, blue methylene, argirol 2%, acetic Acid 2%, analgesic balm, calamine lotion, copper sulfate (Papers), physiological serum, salicylic iodine, Iodine tincture, magnesium sulfate 33%, brush strokes for fungi and frictions.