Tobacco Harvest Making Headway in Las Tunas, Cuba

Source from:  By Hernan Bosch (with the Cuban News Agency) 04/26/2006

Las Tunas, Cuba, Apr 25.- After having already collected some 600 poles strung with tobacco leaves, the growers in eastern Las Tunas province continue to keep up a good pace towards achieving a record production this year. That figure represents two thirds of their target for the current harvest, which is due to conclude by the end of May. The healthy condition of the leaves indicate that it should be possible to achieve that goal. Speaking to the press, Norge Rodriguez, director of the Tobacco Company in Las Tunas, highlighted that this improvement is being made despite the severe drought that has been affecting this region for more than six years now. Las Tunas has the lowest average rainfall in all Cuba, with barely 100 millimeters per year. The tobacco farmers are also facing the damage caused by a flash storm that struck the southern municipality of Colombia on April 11. The meteorological phenomenon caused some losses in the plantations and destroyed curing barns. If the Las Tunas farmers end the tobacco harvest according to forecasts, they will have cropped some 35,000 quintals of the leaf (more than 1,600 tons), a figure above the targets set by the Ministry of Agriculture and an unprecedented result for this province. Despite not having had a tradition of growing this delicate crop, the local farmers joined in the nationwide effort to raise tobacco production a decade ago and since 2001, they have planted over 1,340 hectares of land. At the same time, the local production of cigars has also seen an increase in 2005, with a record production of 13 million units for domestic consumption, and this year they expect to turn out more than 16 million. The tobacco sector has historically be a fundamental industry for the island's economy, which currently possesses the capacity to manufacture 160 million cigars destined for export and some 190 million for domestic consumption. Enditem