To improve last year’s results, planting had begun “early in October,” but it was in vain
14ymedio, Havana, January 2, 2025 — After a depressing year for tobacco production in Sancti Spíritus and facing another one that doesn’t offer great promise, tobacco growers have carried out a “readjustment” of their expectations. They promise the State, according to the province’s Escambray newspaper, to harvest about 1,520 tons of the leaf, 1,000 less than the target set in August, when it was hoped to reach 2,596 tons.
The number reported this week is still just an estimate that reflects not the reality – treacherous when it comes to Cuban agriculture – but the best possible scenario.
The original plan, according to Clemente Hernández Rojas, director of the State’s Acopio y Beneficio de Tabaco Company in the province, was to plant 2,000 hectares of tobacco “sol en palo” (in the sun), and 260 of “tapado,” (shaded by a mosquito net), the two variants* that are grown in Sancti Spíritus. Due to the lack of “some inputs,” he said, only 62% of the plan could be carried out.
To improve last year’s results, planting had begun “early in October.” It was in vain. Hernández claimed that the “inclement weather,” especially the rains that hit the territory that month and the following, delayed the planting.
However, the problems were seen coming from August, when the growers, with optimal conditions to start planting and over a third of the land destined to plant tobacco for export, counted only on one variety that contributes the most income to the state coffers.
According to Escambray, the end of the year “became demanding for the growers, who sought to increase the pace of planting to conclude 2024 with more than 850 hectares covered.” The State executed an old trick and extended the campaign until the first days of January. “We must finish before the 20th of this month,” Hernández explained.
To this list of difficulties is added the energy situation in the country, which does not seem to abate this year. Many growers who use an irrigation system powered by electricity have been affected. With the usual triumphalism, the leader assured that “the farmers are recovering, looking for alternatives, making sacrifices, and it is expected that this plan will be fulfilled in Sancti Spíritus.”
Escambray reported that the omens “are favorable” for growers. From an agricultural point of view, “the tobacco plantations look healthy, with leaves of very good quality.” The media added that “there is a favorable climate for tobacco” and that there have been no intense attacks of disease, although “yes, there are some plagues, but they have what they need to fight them.”
The difficulties faced by growers for the profitability of the product contrast with what the tobacco of the Island represents anywhere in the world: a symbol of luxury. Despite this and the large resources that the industry collects annually (721 million dollars in 2024 alone), only the minimum is reinvested to keep the business afloat.
The numbers that are glimpsed in the province, the second largest production territory in the country, follow the same route as last March, when the plan was barely fulfilled at 49%. One of the consequences of low production was that only one sixth of the tobacco harvested in Sancti Spíritus met the quality parameters necessary for export.
Then, according to the official press, the main causes of the debacle were the lack of fuel to carry out the planting and the fact that “many producers did not plant because the crop is not profitable.”
Despite the fall of the tobacco industry, which every year reports more- diminished and lower-quality productions, attributed to the passage of Hurricane Ian in 2022, Habanos S.A. continues to obtain increasingly higher profits.
In March of last year, the Cigar Festival, held annually in Havana, raised 19.3 million dollars from the sale of eight humidors alone – six were traditionally sold. The Government claims to invest this record amount in Public Health, despite all the evidence pointing to another pocket.
*Translator’s note: “Sol en palo” is used mainly for cigar wrappers; “tapado”
is protected from insects and direct sunlight and used as cigar filler and for cigarettes.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.