Due to the shortage of pesticides, this little parasite could spread to corn, sweet potatoes, rice, potatoes and sugar cane
14ymedio, Havana, July 29, 2024 — As if its disappearance from the Cuban markets wasn’t enough due to inflation and the price cap, the black bean has been facing another enemy since June. The black bedbug, a plague that the official press describes as “exotic” and that appears in Cuba for the first time, is threatening the vegetable crops on the Island.
The first affected municipalities were Imías, Maisí and Baracoa, in the province of Guantánamo, where the plague has devastated 55 hectares of pigeon peas [edamame], Peruvian white beans and green beans.
Bedbugs don’t even appear on the official list of quarantined pests on the Island, Judith Medina, head of the Plant Health department, told the local newspaper, but already “constitute a challenge for the Agriculture delegation.” According to the authorities, the black bedbug feeds on young or adult leaves and stems, causing “withering, discoloration and delayed growth.”
“Due to the wide range of hosts and the economic value of the plantations, surveillance in the planting of the bean has been intensified, as well as the training of the productive bases, peasants, technicians and the implementation of plant health measures to stop their spread,” clarifies Venceremos, which includes among the measures to combat the plague the use of insecticides such as Bimida, Bunker and Cipermetrina.
The shortage of pesticides and fertilizers on the Island has been recognized even by the government authorities, who question the ability of the Ministry of Agriculture to confront the plague. Coming from Asia, the black bedbug not only attacks the black bean, but is able to spread to other important crops on the Island, such as corn, sweet potato, rice, potato and sugar cane.
The bean has been suffering for weeks from the ups and downs of the price caps on several essential products
Meanwhile, the bean has been suffering for weeks from the ups and downs of the price caps on several essential products – including black beans – which has led to its sudden disappearance from the markets.
In a recent visit to the stalls of several merchants in Havana, 14ymedio learned about the cause of the absence: “The problem is that they want it to be sold below the price at which it was bought. We buy it at 340 pesos a pound and they (the Government) want us to sell it at 300,” a seller at Neptune and Gervasio explained to this newspaper.
On July 12, the governor of Havana, Yanet Hernández Pérez, signed a resolution fixing the maximum prices for agricultural products. The standard affects 21 products, which from now on will be marketed per pound in the following way: sweet potato, yucca and avocado, 45 pesos; malanga Colocasia, 75 pesos; Xanthosoma malanga, 100 pesos; plantain, papaya and pineapple, 50 pesos; burro banana, fruit banana, cucumber, guava and mango, 40 pesos; pumpkin, papaya and tender corn, 30 pesos; okra, 65 pesos; bean, 60 pesos; black bean, 300 pesos; red bean, 350 pesos, and rice, 180.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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