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Cuba sugar harvest only half of expected, sector in ‘crisis’

Published:Thursday | June 16, 2022 | 9:25 AM
Farmers use machetes to weed a sugar cane field in Madruga, Cuba, Thursday, April 29, 2021. According to local authorities, Cuba has been able to reach only half of its sugar production plan for 2022, far from the huge harvests from many decades ago, the Caribbean island nation will only be able to cover its local market and will not export any of its sugar production to foreign markets. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)

HAVANA (AP) — Cuba, once legendary for its sugar cane, produced only about half the sugar it had hoped to this season, and authorities acknowledged that while they will cover internal demand they will not be able to meet their international commitments.

“It's not a secret, the sector is in crisis,” Dionis Pérez, director of communication at Azcuba, the government agency that regulates sugar production on the island, told reporters Wednesday.

“This year we have fulfilled 53% of the harvest.”

Pérez did not say how much sugar had been harvested, but at the end of last year Economy Minister Alejandro Gil said the state plan was to produce 911,000 tonnes this sugar harvest, which concluded in May.

The percentage given by Pérez would mean that production was about 482,000 tonnes.

The figure is half the 800,000 tonnes harvested in 2020-2021 and is the lowest figure in at least 100 years.

In the 1980s, Cuba produced up to 8 million tonnes of sugar a year.

Pérez said the reasons for this season's low production include a shortage of herbicides and fertilisers, a delay in starting up sugar mills, and even a lack of oxygen — which was hoarded by the health sector to combat COVID-19 — needed to repair breakages. He also blamed a lack of fuel and spare tires due to US sanctions.

He said it was not realistic to compare current sugar production to that of the 1980s.

“I had 150 (sugar) mills then, now I have 56. Fifty-four of those were active, and of those 54 only 35 contributed to the harvest.”

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