Cuba to plant 22,000 hectares of tobacco

PINAR DEL RIO, Cuba, Jun 11 (ACN) During the tobacco campaign 2024- 2025, which should begin next October, Cuba aims to plant some 22,000 hectares (ha) of the main exportable agricultural product.

According to Marino Murillo Jorge, president of the Tabacuba Business Group, in spite of the increase in import costs, the resources are in better conditions than those of the last period, since, for example, 50 % of the fertilizers and a considerable part of the phytosanitary products are already in the country.

He explained that 14,300 hectares were planted in the 2023- 2024 season, and although the expected yields were achieved, they were below the estimates.

As a novelty for the upcoming campaign, the producers of sun stick tobacco and second-rate vegas will receive a part of the remuneration in foreign currency, a claim that has been demanded for several years, he said.
Pinar del Rio, the largest tobacco-producing province on the island, will assume in the period the plantation of 14,000 hectares, a territory in which the tobacco growers had to sow tobacco and rebuild the houses of the priest that were destroyed by Hurricane Ian.

Murillo Jorge highlighted this effort and specified that some 5,000 houses have been completed, while another 3,000 remain to be built.

The world market continues seeking tobacco, so we have to produce more," he added, "to contribute to the national economy.

We continue working on the producers' development program and the priority lies in the people in the land, so that they can work in more humane and efficient conditions, the president of the Tabacuba Business Group pointed out, since the Business Group aspires to export between 70 and 80 million cigars.