There are people who come into the world marked by perseverance and optimism, an example of this is Julio César Calderón Fernández, leader of the Edible, Non-Edible Oils and Animal Feed Local Development Project, which begins to take shape in this municipality of Calixto García.
Julio César, a native of the city of Holguín, arrived in the Calixteño neighborhood of El Martillo a little over twenty years ago, attracted by the beauty and virtues of Elda María Gracia, who would later become his wife and adviser.
He decided to stay there, because he saw the possibility of putting into practice several dreams that, with the passage of time, had been turning into nightmares: "Since I passed the electrical maintenance technician training, at the 26 de Julio agricultural implements factory , I fell in love with the construction of machines, especially those used to provide food to the people, and thus the idea of building equipment to extract oils was born. I began to document myself about that world and then, when I fell in love and got married in the El Martillo area, everything fell at my feet, I asked for land in usufruct, I joined the cooperative and began planting peanuts and soybeans, a crop that the In just a few months, it was turning olive oil and natural peanut oil, something that powerfully caught the attention of many cooperative members from there and nearby neighborhoods.”
And indeed, a little over a decade ago, the product extracted from the aforementioned oil plants was very well accepted by the population, so a point of sale was opened in areas of the main market of Buenaventura, in addition to selling to various organizations. . Everything was heading towards the installation of a plant that would multiply production, but, according to Julio: "In the municipality and the province, all paths were opened to innovative ideas, however, in the National Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture It was totally different and dreams were shattered, the possibility of satisfying the people with vital food was shattered.
Recently, the protagonist of the Aceite Castizo Project, decided to join another enthusiastic and risky man from Holguin, the doctor Alfredo Pérez Cuba, with the firm conviction of locating the first factory of this precious edible liquid in the territory, which is already being built in old facilities of the Límbano Sánchez Productive Pole, close to the Mir Crossing.
Calderón Fernández's ideas are as clear as the pure oil itself: "Once we have the factory set up, we plan to obtain annually, between 60 and 70 tons of oil, from different oil plants, such as sesame, peanut, soybean and sunflower, to what is indispensable to establish from now agreements with several peasants of the different productive forms of the municipality”.
According to data from the Local Development Project, recently approved by the Municipal Administration Council, the reuse of the by-products generated by the oil will make it possible to obtain more than 400 tons of feed annually, which will be used in animal feed, since in the near future they intend to take advantage of a nearby warehouse for fattening pigs and, in part, alleviate the deficits of this meat in the market. The last two Saturdays, Calixteñas and Calixteñas who have attended the areas of the Agricultural Fair, here in Buenaventura, have been powerfully attracted by the sale of half-liter jars of sesame oil and the exquisite peanut paste, at the In this regard, Julio César pointed out: “We are achieving these productions in our house, we hope that very soon we will be in the factory that we located in old buildings in Limbano Sánchez. Regarding prices, we recognize that they are still high, but have full confidence that we are going to work so that little by little they go down. The idea of all of us who are in this project is to always think about the population and, above all, mole, the one with the least economic income”.
In good time the good thinking and good work of individuals like Julio César, because due to his determination, his unwavering will, dozens of children of this town have been able to give a distinctive touch to our kitchens... And as he told us at the end of the meeting, this is only the beginning, because many good things will come for the town.
