Poor coordination amongst government institutions slowed a program of forestry farms in the Cuban province of Guantánamo, which suffers dry conditions and desertification. Only three of the 47 forty-hectare farms planned for 2007 were created because the houses necessary were not built, due to a lack of agreement between the Housing Institute and the Agriculture Ministry, the state-run paper “Granma” reported on Mar. 11.

The tree farms are to be given to rural families with use rights since the late 1990s in order to increase and preserve forests.

These agricultural units are “a viable alternative for creating sustainability in desert and arid zones” like those in Guantánamo, Oscar Borges, soil expert from the eastern province, told Tierramérica.