CIENPINOS identifies popular and traditional knowledge through participatory workshop with goat producers

• Producers shared the Creole goat management practices that have been developed and inherited in the region of Cumanayagua, in the province of Cienfuegos, Cuba.

The first participatory workshop for the survey of popular and traditional knowledge manifested in the Creole goat production chain, was held in Cienfuegos with the attendance of 53 producers, mostly from the southern circuit of Cumanayagua.

The objective of the workshop was to learn, from the voice of the attendees, those practices that have been inherited, developed and adapted to the conditions of each era, and that continue to the present day, contributing to the wealth of knowledge that goat producers put into practice in their daily work.

The application of techniques and tools for group and individual participation, the discussion and socialization of aspects related to management practices, the meeting between producers and specialists, as well as the completion of a survey were part of the actions carried out in the participatory workshop session with goat producers.

Dr. C. Roberto Yasiel García Dueñas, responsible for the Municipal Climate Governance component of the project in the province of Cienfuegos, added that “another of the objectives is to identify and differentiate the popular and traditional elements which, although they may seem the same, are not, and we will even be able to know the ways in which this knowledge is disseminated by the producers, how it has arrived until today and what channels they use for its diffusion”.

Among the aspects raised by the producers that enriched the discussions were the characterization of breeding systems, reproduction, marketing capabilities and the possibilities of increasing herds based on the current reality. The importance of the family in the training of new generations of producers, respect for traditions and the search for solutions using local resources were other topics discussed.

The participatory workshop included the presentation of audiovisuals whose contents related social, traditional and cultural aspects of Creole goat breeding in this area of Cuba, as well as concepts of community and encounters between people for local and community development. In this way, through communication as a science that transversalizes all processes, a preliminary research was shown as a result of the visit of the filming team to the goat scenarios.

At the end of the working groups of goat producers and other participants in the workshop, the specialists have sufficient information that will be processed and analyzed and the results will be shared with the public.

“The methodology applied is supported by years of implementation in different areas, but always with the purpose of collecting local knowledge that is so important for the solution of the problems that these producers face on a daily basis and in general in rural areas with all kinds of problems,” said Ms. C. David Soler Marcháns, assistant professor at the University ‘Carlos Rafael Rodríguez’ of Cienfuegos, an expert on the subject. According to the specialists, the theoretical support for this methodology comes from contemporary socio-anthropology, as a science, as well as from the principles of sustainable and popular development.

Prior to the development of the working groups, the lyrics of the guaracha “El Chivo” were presented for the first time, performed by the Cumanay Group, a musical theme that from now on will identify the CIENPINOS project in the province of Cienfuegos, as a demonstration that cultural traditions and traditional knowledge find expression in music as a universal language.

In addition to the producers, the meeting was attended by leaders of the CIENPINOS project, government authorities in the municipalities of Cumanayagua and Abreus, territorial representatives of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, as well as the University of Cienfuegos and the companies Agroforestal Cienfuegos and Pecuaria “La Sierrita”.

The occasion also provided an opportunity to hold two other workshops to present the results of the diagnostics carried out: one related to the goat production system and the forest characterization studies of the forests and scrublands in Cienfuegos, and the other on the studies of the value chain of goats grazing in the territory itself. Both were attended by related stakeholders, as well as municipal and provincial government authorities and other decision-makers.

The municipality of Viñales, in the province of Pinar del Río, will host another participatory workshop with 63 producers of criollo acorn-fed pigs, with similar objectives.