Cuba to plant new variety of yucca

Cuba to plant new variety of yucca

Cuban agricultural officials have decided to plant a new variety of
yucca called INIVIT 93-4, which is resistant to wind. After a brutal
hurricane season that wiped out almost the entire country's yucca crop,
a main staple in the Cuban diet, agricultural officials have decided to
use a new variety nationwide.

INIVIT 93-4 yucca is 40 centimeters shorter than other varieties, and
therefore more hurricane resistant. The strain was created by the
National Research Institute of Tropical Root Vegetables (INIVIT), in the
municipality of Santo Domingo in Villa Clara.

Sergio Rodríguez, director of INIVIT, said this new variety is not only
shorter but has a symmetrical anchorage in the soil, making it more
resistant to wind. INIVIT 93-4 is also resistant to plagues and
diseases, and has a yield of some 7.5 tons per acre.

For many years, the National Research Institute of Root Vegetables has
been making studies to obtain shorter stocks of banana and other fruit
trees. Rodríguez also spoke about the creation some time ago of the
dwarf or Marador papaya, which is resistant to wind.

For more than 40 years, INIVIT has contributed to the Cuban agriculture
with the creation of new varieties, the improvement of others, and
technologies for the control of crops using biological methods.

Source: cubaheadlines.com

Publication date: 10/10/2008

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