• Submitted by: admin
• 02 / 06 / 2007

Cuban mountain areas are currently inhabited by 720 thousand persons, distributed over 10 provinces of the island's territory.

The Cuban state gives preferential treatment to those areas and this has put a stop to the migration of dwellers to the cities for several decades.

Mountain areas now have educational, medical and gastronomical services, whereas before 1959 these territories were forsaken by the different administrations.

Three-fourths of the easternmost region in Cuba is covered by mountain ranges. Infant mortality rate is down to 2.8 per thousand live births, while low weight at birth was 5.2 , way below the average for the province.

Another achievement in mountainous areas is the reduction in 2006 of pollution from coffee processing plants by 2.87 per cent in the biological demand for oxygen, compared to the previous year.

The expansion and rehabilitation of a lagoon in the Turey district of Baracoa, and technological changes introduced in a coffee processing plant in Maisi are among the factors that made the decontamination possible.

Alejandro Fernandez, official of the local government attending the Plan Turquino, reported at the meeting that during 2006, over 106,255.3 acres were improved by simple conservation actions and the application of organic compost to the soil.

The extension of land includes coffee, cocoa, coconut and other crops plantations.

Source: Prensa Latina