The proclamation Take your vegetable here is not heard, but in what a quiet way the offers from the point of sale on the highway attract locals and passers-by, in front of the industry best known for the Combinado de Cítricos, near the town of Ceballos, in the province of Ciego de Avila.
One acquires bags of fresh and pickled vegetables for the first time, and repeats the visit with pleasure. Regular customers say that “the products have quality,” says Joel Reyes, builder. Marilín García, a housewife, highlights: «Good offer at affordable prices». Mahely García, educator, exemplifies: «40.00 pesos cost me the nylon bag with more than 10 cucumbers». “Tasty is the mixed salad of cabbage, tomato and pepper, it costs 75.00 pesos,” alleges Caridad Picart Trujillo, a journalist.
La Casa, the name of the place, offers fresh products harvested in the cultivation houses, and pickles and sauces to season processed in the mini-industry, both productive areas of the Plant-Based Business Unit.
The “mini doses”: how they solve!
Although the shortage of containers and fuel limits the usual volumes of production of the UEB, the young Huber Luis Salazar Castillo affirms that, innovating, this Vanguardia Nacional group applied alternatives.
The head of the mini-industry exemplifies that they put into operation some pots to process food. Recently the group packaged pickled carrot, processed with this equipment.
“These nylon bags replace the cans that we don’t have today, a solution available to all of these ‘minidoses’ because they contain 1.5 kilograms of pickles, sauce and other products at a lower price than canned ones,” says Huber.
He argues that to ensure the continuity of the offers to the population and sales to the workers of the center, more than 120 tons of cabbage are in process, as well as peppers, carrots, green tomatoes and cucumbers.
“This equipment is pure innovation,” says Dexter Hernández Pulido, head of maintenance at the factory. “We prepared this production line for grinding mango and guava, which successfully completed the start-up tests, a task that was done manually.
“A short time ago we put into operation the equipment for tomato processing, also the result of inventiveness.”
like lettuce
The recently applied alternatives to maintain the vitality of the crops, diversify the assortments and make the agro-industrial processes sustainable, are mentioned by the engineer Jakeline Cajigal Favier, head of the UEB.
«We increased the production of organic fertilizers, which has the potential to reach 5,000 tons, with a view to improving the soil, the development of plants and combating pests, especially nematodes.
“Another projection is the growth of the planting of areas dedicated to guava, mango, papaya. In addition, this month the start of the sowing of the hot pepper of the Chile Habanero variety is planned in nine hectares, six we had until the last harvest, growth that will make it possible to increase exports.”