francisco, farmer, cacocum, holguin
Campesino Francisco from Cacocum, Holguin province. Photo: Roxana Guisado Fernández

Francisco, a life dedicated to tilling the land

Francisco’s hands, furrowed by time and hard work, are a map of the land he has cultivated for decades. Every wrinkle, every callus, tells the story of a life dedicated to the field, to sowing the soil with the same patience and tenacity with which a craftsman polishes his masterpiece.

At dawn, when the sun barely peeks timidly over the horizon, Francisco, a farmer from Cacocum – Holguín province-, is already on his feet, walking through his fields with the attentive gaze of a father who cares for his children.  He observes the growth of the corn, the luxuriance of the vegetables, the slow ripening of the fruits, and in each leaf, in each stalk, there is a reason for satisfaction.

It is not an easy task for the farmer. The vagaries of the weather, the pests that lurk, the uncertainty of harvests, are constant challenges that he faces with the ancestral wisdom inherited from generations that preceded him. His knowledge is not learned in books, but in the patient observation of nature, in the silent dialogue with the soil that whispers its secrets.

But Francisco does not give up. With the same tenacity with which his hands cling to the hoe, he clings to the hope of a good harvest, to the satisfaction of bringing food to his family and that of so many others.  His weathered gaze shows the pride of one who knows that his work, though humble, is key to life.

When the afternoon is coming to an end and the sun begins its slow descent, Francisco returns home with the joy of having fulfilled his duty, with the peace that the land transmits to him. On his back he carries the weight of the years, but also the experience and nobility of a millenary tradition: cultivating the land and with it, life itself.

With information by Roxana Guisado Fernández

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