14ymedio, Havana, 21 March 2024 — The current tobacco planting campaign in Sancti Spíritus, the territory with the second highest production in the country, is barely at 49%. According to the official press, which could not disguise its disappointment with the figure, the main causes of the debacle are the lack of fuel to carry out the planting and the fact that “many producers did not plant because the crop is not profitable.”
Isidro Hernández Toledo, agricultural director of the Acopio y Beneficio de Tabaco company in Sancti Spíritus, explained to the local media Escambray that until February, only 1,918 acres of tobacco were planted out of a plan of 3,954. The covered tobacco is not at risk, since they managed to plant 717 acres – 74 more than planned – but for sol en palo, sun-curing, the most widespread form of cultivation in the territory, barely 1,200 acres of the 3,334 planned were achieved.
“That resulted in a high number of producers not planting tobacco,” said Hernández Toledo, who says that the poor performance during the planting stage will have its consequences later, during the collection of tobacco at the end of the campaign.
“This type of planting (sun-curing) has its antecedent in the previous campaign”
According to Escambray, which takes advantage of the manager’s statement to focus on the farmers, “this type of planting (sun-curing) has its antecedent in the previous campaign.”* Despite the lack of some inputs, he adds, there are moments of the process that are prioritized, such as the capadura,** for which the farmers have “fertilizers, pesticides and other necessary resources for that second phase of the tobacco plant.”
“Obtaining capadu