Thanks to socialism, the island known for centuries as the king of sugar and tobacco is now producing less and less of it every year. This current tobacco harvest in the city of Sancti Spiritus is at 80% of the previous one, and the production of sun-grown tobacco, used for cigarettes, is down by over 60%, the lowest in history. Another great achievement of the socialist revolution.
Sun-grown tobacco production in Sancti Spiritus the lowest in history
The tobacco campaign in Sancti Spíritus will fail to meet this year’s harvest plan. Authorities estimate gathering around 666 tons of tobacco, a volume that represents 20% less compared to the previous season.
Isidro Hernández Toledo, agricultural director of the Tobacco Collection and Processing Company in Sancti Spíritus, explained the details of the shortfall to the state media outlet Escambray.
Regarding sun-grown tobacco, intended for the national cigarette industry, the director noted that the collection reached 202,987 growing lines, which is 65% of the planned amount.
“We are estimating around 351 tons, the lowest production in the history of Sancti Spíritus,” Hernández Toledo specified.
Even if the collections for the covered tobacco variety are fulfilled, the overall production decline means the province will fail to meet its tobacco production target for the fourth consecutive year, as it is estimated to close the campaign at 87% of the total plan.
Among the causes of the low tobacco production, the agricultural director cited the late planting of 146 hectares of sun-grown tobacco in the first three months of the year, from which they do not expect good results.
“Vegetative development was also affected by the rains in January and February, there were delays in the harvest due to a lack of cutters, damage from diseases such as black root rot that impacted yield; additionally, the areas left for the second cut were affected by disease, especially due to the impact of atmospheric ozone causing leaf spots and poor development,” he detailed.
In Cuba, tobacco plantations are closely controlled by the Cuban regime, which uses the product for export and foreign currency earnings. These are million-dollar gains, while tobacco growers receive only a few cents.
In this regard, Hernández Toledo mentioned that another setback for the current campaign in Sancti Spíritus is that less than half of the producers achieved the second cut. Only 480 out of the nearly 1,180 initially contracted producers planted tobacco.
“Covered tobacco is meeting targets because it has greater incentives for production, such as the foreign currency bonus given to the producer on a card; there was no difference in this year’s supply assurance. We are currently preparing the contracting process for the next campaign and are awaiting the final approval of a foreign currency incentive system for sun-grown tobacco to reverse the situation and encourage more planting,” he emphasized.