The State only has 1,962 acres secured of the 5,607 that it planned to exploit for tobacco
14ymedio, Havana, 30 August 2024 — Exactly one year ago, with hands on their heads, the authorities of Sancti Spíritus wondered what to do to revive tobacco production. Whatever the methods were, they didn’t work, and this August, almost at the end of the process of hiring the vegueros (tobacco growers), the State has only 1,962 acres secured of the 5,607 that it planned to exploit.
The figure is equivalent to just 35% of the plan, which will provide, according to estimates, 948 tons of tobacco if the land yields 1.1 tons per 2.5 acres. The original plan, however, was to end the campaign that begins this September with more than 2,569 tons of tobacco, Isidro Hernández Toledo, director of the state company Acopio in the province, told the newspaper Escambray.
“There is a delay; the tobacco should have been contracted between March and April, but by waiting for an incentive to be offered to the planters, the contracting for the new campaign is behind,” regrets the official, who explains that the State finally gave and offered the vegueros a stimulus in MLC (freely convertible currency). However, it is still to be seen if this will increase production.
It is hard to understand why the regime gives so little to a sector that generates a large part of the foreign currency income that the Island obtains
It is hard to understand why the regime gives so little to a sector that generates a large part of the foreign currency income that the Island obtains. In fact, the farmers themselves announced the debacle a year ago, when the Sancti Spíritus campaign was “the worst in history,” and they did it again last March, when they declared to the official press that planting tobacco at the price paid by Acopio no longer gives results.