Farmers complain about repeated non-payments, another factor for the shipwreck of the industry that was once a symbol of Cuba
14ymedio, Madrid, September 15, 2025 — Everything indicates that the next sugar harvest will once again snatch the title of “worst in a century” from its predecessor. This was warned last July by the Minister of Economy, Joaquín Alonso Vázquez, who said that the delays in the planting of sugar cane were persistent, and if they continued, it would not be possible to “achieve significant increases in the 2026 and 2027 harvests.” The official blamed it on the shortage of raw material, but it is thanks to a report published this Monday in Trajabadores that the shortage of cane is better understood.
It is well known that the lack of fuel and inputs for planting has repercussions, but the State still owes millions of dollars to producers. “For the 2024-2025 harvest, I delivered 2,080 tons of seed between April and May, and I have not received a penny of the more than 4 million pesos from that sale,”says Joel Collazo Apaceiro, an Artemis producer who emphasizes that the situation has nothing exceptional. “The default for the harvest is the same. Contracts are violated, but we continue planting despite dissatisfaction,” he adds.
“Although the industry has not paid for the cut cane, the planting campaigns of the winter and cold seasons do not wait for bureaucracies,” adds another producer. The secretary of the National Union of Sugar Processors, Yrrael Rouseaux Mansfarroll, says that this delay in 33 Basic Units of Cooperative Production affects no more and no less than 4,700 producers.
“It is the boards’ responsibility to seek an alternative to protect the wages of their workers,” he claims, although he states that Deputy Minister Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca is finding a way to solve the problem with Azcuba.
This delay in 33 Basic Units of Cooperative Production affects no more and no less than 4,700 producers
Elba Peña Rojas, president of a cooperative located in Banes, Holguín, expresses the same reproach. “It is harmful to have cane stalks from three years ago, which we have stopped cutting for one reason or another. The contract to pay tax to the Fernando de Dios plant is violated, and today the Agroindustrial Azucarera owes us 22 million pesos. This affects the payment to the sugarcane growers and the distribution of profits to the cooperatives.”
Peña claims that this is not the only thing missing. The lack of fertilizers, herbicides, fuel and other resources — which have reduced the cane yield from 100 to 45 tons per hectare — is compounded by malicious fires, which have left great damage in their territory.
To the pile of misfortunes, producers add one more: the theft of wire used to fence the fields, which allows livestock from surrounding areas to enter the land and destroy the cane. “We have 210 hectares. Once again, cattle are being raised in the area, and we have put fences around the cane fields, but it is not enough because the wire is stolen and the animals kill the plants. We report it and no one acts to stop the crime,” he complains.
Trabajadores interviewed Antonio Viamontes Perdomo, director of the only mill that met the targets of the sugar plan of the last campaign, the Melanio Hernández of Sancti Spíritus. “In the last four years, fuel restrictions have affected the planting of seeds and limited the amount of cane grown. The idea is to stop the decline in June 2026,” he says. Despite honorably fulfilling their targets, the territory that supplies them does not have good news. “There, 75% of the land used for cane cultivation is empty.”
More examples: The Carlos Manuel de Céspedes plant, in Camagüey, milled 21% of burnt cane and transported 70%, which took more than 12 hours to arrive, affecting efficiency, which was only 20% of the plan. In Artemisa, the company 30 de Noviembre had a fuel shortage. It took 34 days to move the cane, so only 1,762 tons were processed.
The Antonio Guiteras of Las Tunas remained at 16% of what was projected, 7,200 out of the planned 45,000 tons. The figure is very worrying because this is the mill that agreed to deliver more sugar to the state, but everything bad that could happen, happened, including a shortage of staff, which is increasingly pressing.
The Ciro Redondo, in Ciego de Avila, has gone seven consecutive years without fulfilling the order, aggravated this year because it milled more than half, but 70% was cane from previous harvests, which gave worse results. The same goes for the neighboring bioelectric, which adds up to “millions of kilowatts left to contribute since the launch in 2020, although this press team did not have access to official information on that subject,” the text says.
Trabajadores repeats the complaint by referring to the Uruguay sugar mill, closed for years when it was planned that the Russians would renovate it. “Some obstacles have also made it necessary to grasp first-hand what is happening in the Uruguay industry of Sancti Spíritus. However, through other legal channels it was known that its machines were shut down in 2022, due to the decrease of cane and the lack of resources to revitalize factory equipment,” says the article, which highlights the government’s failure to comply with its own Social Communication Law, refusing to give data required by the official press.
The Urban Noris, in Holguín, had its last harvest in 2023, says the management of the sugar business group in the province, since “it needed a capital repair that was not possible, because it depends on an investment”
The Urban Noris, in Holguín, had its last harvest in 2023, says the management of the sugar business group in the province, since “it needed a capital repair that was not possible because it depends on an investment.” Planting has been another problem. The cane needs to grow, but if it did there would be no industry to process it. “In the fields there is evidence, with large quantities of stalks left and requisitioned,” says José Luis Jomarrón Cera, president of another las Tunas cooperative.
“They subtracted from us for harvesting 14,000 tons of cane with approximately 28 million pesos to collect. On the other hand, non-payments for raw material, which has now been provided and processed, hampers the delivery of advances and the purchase of the inputs necessary for production. In addition, costs are altered, since by not paying off the loans granted by the banks, the interest goes up and substantial amounts of money have to be paid.” The few measures taken, he adds, have come too late, as the sugar industry is dying.
The latest harvest data have not been officially disclosed, but it is known that it did not reach 150,000 tons and that the quantity may even be much lower. Fifteen sugar mills participated in this campaign, of which 10 have contributed their results to the official media, totaling 95,584 tons. The remaining five have not disclosed their production, but it is known precisely that among all of them they targeted 52,068 tons of sugar. That is, if they had met it, the harvest would amount to 147,652 tons. However, only one, in Sancti Spíritisdid did so. Forty years ago, a record was reached with 8.5 million tons of sugar. Since then, the drop is like a bottomless pit.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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