14ymedio, Havana, 28 January 2025 — Almost two months later than planned, the province of Granma “officially” celebrated the launch this Monday of the 2024-2025 sugar harvest, although the jubilation lasted just two hours because “technical problems stopped the machines from grinding.” This was reported on Tuesday by the newspaper La Demajagua, which assured that the problem was resolved after “several lost hours and enormous effort” by the workers.
The article describes a litany of blunders. The harvest, the text reports, was supposed to begin last December, but it could not start due to a “lack of lubricants and fuel” for the machinery. After several weeks of trying to solve the “technical failures and inconveniences,” the Enidio Díaz Machado mill, located in Ceiba Hueca, Campechuela, began to grind the cane, but only from 5:00 am to 7:00 am and at barely 70% of its capacity.
After the official start this Monday, says the provincial newspaper in an apocalyptic tone, brigades of macheteros worked with the cutting, transport, lifting and pulling teams, “imposing themselves on the shortcomings that the brutal American blockade imposes on the Island.”
The harvest was supposed to begin last December, but it could not start due to a “lack of lubricants and fuel” for the machinery
The sugar workers of Granma must work with care to achieve a “harvest that exceeds 19,000 tons, and thus compensate for the forecasts of the previous harvest.” However, the Enidio Díaz Machado is running against the clock, since 17 weeks are planned for grinding. To achieve the goal, the media says, it will require “greater effort and commitment of everyone involved in the campaign.”
The sugar industry, once the Island’s economic engine, is in free fall, and the few mills that work have countless ailments: only six of the 14 planned for this campaign began production on time.
As a result, by the first week of January, barely 25% of what was planned had been ground, and “sugar production was at an insufficient 21%,” according to Dionis Pérez Pérez, director of Informatics, Communication and Analysis of the Azcuba Sugar Group. In an article published in Granma on January 9, the official added that “this scenario is aggravated by the late start-up and the non-incorporation of eight sugar mills, which represent 75% of the producers in the sector.”
Pérez Pérez explained that the electro-energy situation has also delayed the repair work in the mills, as well as in the cleaning centers and mechanization workshops. “This includes national factories, which provide essential parts and pieces for the operation of the sugar industry,” he said.
Pérez Pérez explained that the electro-energy situation has also delayed the repair work in the mills, as well as in the cleaning centers and mechanization workshops
In addition, he added, the lack of fuel availability has limited operational capacity and complicated the logistics needed to meet demand. According to the official, only 10% of the minimum financing required to carry out the harvest has been secured, which puts the sustainability of the production process at risk.
The condition of the mills is one of the reasons why grinding is minimal. It should be remembered that, in 1959, Cuba had 161 mills in private hands that produced 5.6 million tons of sugar that year. The mills remained in good condition during the decades of the Soviet subsidy, with the best sugar production data between the 70s and 80s – more than 8.5 million tons – without reaching, however, the Fidelist utopia of “ten million.”
The symbol of the harvest in recent years has been the debacle. For the 2022-2023 campaign, only 350,000 tons of sugar were achieved, the worst harvest since 1898, and well below the more than half a million tons of national consumption, not to mention the more than 400,000 tons that were exported.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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