Elizabeth Cristo, a member of the project and genetic improvement
researcher at the Experimental Station of Los Palacios in Pinar del Rio,
told ACN that 100 hectares of land in the eastern part of this province
are currently being prepared for this initiative, which aims at comparing
the Cuban and Vietnamese rice growing technologies in order to foster the
best techniques and results.

The specialist noted that the main differences regarding technical norms
in Cuba and Viet Nam have to do with the transplantation of seedlings, the
way to sow them, and the fertilization cycles and distribution.

Bilateral cooperation in this area began in 2002 in the eastern Cuban
province of Granma and it later extended to territories like Pinar del
Rio, which has one of the biggest agro-industrial rice complexes of the
country and an Experimental Station that produces the majority of the rice
varieties cultivated in Cuba.

This project, as others under way, will contribute to an annual 14%
increase of the rice production in the Caribbean country.

According to press reports, Cuba imports more than 400,000 tons of rice
per year, which represents 60% of the total amount consumed by the Cuban
population.