María Andrea Cordero Martín is Cuban, a leader of her farm, and a participant in CARE’s PROSAM project. She is 67 years old and has been married for 51 years to Javier Peña Salazar. She was born, and has always lived, on the San Juan Bautista farm, which today is associated with the CCS Antero Regalado (state cooperative), in Las Cañas, Artemisa.
María Andrea became an agricultural producer when her father grew older and she began to take care of the farm, mainly the administration and management. Her father had always produced various vegetables and crops on 4 hectares of land, and on another 16 hectares he had smaller livestock.
CARE has worked with María Andrea since 2015 through the PROSAM project, where she has learned about different technologies, agro-ecological practices, gender equality, environmental protection, and many other topics. She has also received resources to improve the farm and ensure the production is organic.
She has the support of her grandchildren in the daily work of the farm, mainly Raudel, who stands out as a new young leader, always listening and following, with attention and respect, to the advice and wisdom of his grandmother and grandfather.
Today, working with CARE through the PROSAM project, María is managing a semi-protected cultivation system for crops and vegetables and an area for the production of various crops, with the purpose of contributing to the local self-supply of food.
Semi-protected cultivation is a technology that allows the production of several species of vegetables and legumes. The advantage of this technology is that it is adapted to local conditions so that crops are more resilient to climate disasters and reach a higher level of production. For María Andrea, this form of cultivating has been necessary to produce high quality products at all times of the year.
María Andrea is now a content woman, successful and loved by her family and by everyone who knows her. She is focused and committed to producing food for the people of Cuba.
Learn more about PROSAM