You are looking at scripts about Agriculture
Cuba Parks its Tractors and Returns to Oxen
Dust rises in the fields of the Cuban countryside. It is planting time and farmers are working their fields. But the dust in this field does not come from a tractor — it comes from oxen ploughing the field. Tractors are still around, but the cost of petroleum to run them and spare parts to…
Container Gardens Provide Fresh Vegetables for City Dwellers
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, you and I – in fact every person – should eat 300 grams of fresh vegetables every day to stay healthy. Three hundred grams is about one large bowl full of vegetables. With this in mind, a municipality in Cuba developed a program for…
Grow Food in the City
Do you live in a city where you spend much of your hard-earned income just to eat? Or, are you a farmer struggling to get food to city markets — battling the high cost of refrigeration and transportation? If this describes you, here’s something of interest. In the country of Cuba, a large quantity of…
Be Careful When You Transport Bananas
Nobody wants to buy cut or bruised bananas. That’s why when you grow bananas, the care that you take to pack and transport the cut bunches is just as important as the effort you put into growing the fruit. It is important that bananas reach the buyer in good condition. If they don’t, you may…
Cuba Rediscovers the Value of Root Crops
What makes a crop valuable? Today I am going to talk about how the people of Cuba rediscovered the value of root crops. In Cuba, taro, potatoes, cassava, sweet potatoes and other root crops had lost popularity in recent times. But for many years – in fact, for most of Cuba’s history – farmers grew…
The Big-headed Ant – A Farmer’s Friend
For more than 600 years farmers have known that some kinds of ants can help control pests in crops. In Cuba farmers use big headed ants to prevent a weevil from damaging sweet potatoes. Many Cuban farmers have passed on the secrets of this method to their chidren. Mariá Elena González Pellón, who is a…
Mr. Santana’s Rooftop Garden
Francisco Santana lives in the centre of the capital city of Havana, in Cuba. His apartment is on the second floor of a house. His terrace is on the rooftop of his neighbour’s house. One summer, his children were having trouble sleeping because of the heat. It was a long, hot summer. And on the…
A Village in India Promotes Sanitation
In the country of India there is a state called Orissa. In the rural areas of Orissa many of the roads and drains are used as open lavatories. During the rainy season, rainwater and water from the ponds, tanks and rivers mix with dried feces. Diseases such as diarrhea and dysentery spread throughout the communities….
The Importance of Latrines
Is human waste a problem near your home? Look around you. Think about the places where people usually make waste. Maybe the men defecate or urinate close to the river early in the morning. The women usually go behind the bushes for privacy. Children go everywhere! After you defecate, flies walk on your feces. When…
Dirty Water is Dangerous
Dirty water is dangerous. People make water dirty by urinating or defecating near ponds, wells, and rivers. Every year many people die from diseases spread by dirty water. Even if water looks clean, it may not be. It can contain harmful germs that are too small to see. These germs can cause diarrhea, dysentery, cholera,…