MIAMI, United States. — Authorities from the province of Ciego de Ávila recognized the poor performance of the campaign for sowing and harvesting potatoes, which ended with a non-compliance of more than 5,500 tons.
Agriculture officials in that territory told the Cuban News Agency (ACN) that it was not possible to reach the 17,860 planned due to weather effects and a lack of resources, among them the post-emergence herbicide.
Raúl Monguía Rodríguez, a specialist in potato cultivation at the provincial delegation of Agriculture, told the state media that the high temperatures “caused physiological changes inside the tuber” and that later the rains “stopped the harvest for between six and 10 days.” .
The expert added that in all the municipalities of the province the losses in the collection of potatoes oscillate between 25 and 30 percent, for a total of 5,535 tons “that could not be used due to the existing levels of rot.”
In his statements to the ACNMonguía Rodríguez emphasized the lack of a post-emergence herbicide, whose function is to eliminate undesirable weeds that compete with the fertilizer and limit the quality of phytosanitary applications by preventing the products from fully reaching the plant.
The information specifies that in the last campaign 950 hectares were planted, 210 of them with five varieties of national seed, which received the complete formula fertilizer (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium) and the pre-emergent herbicide to control weeds in the first life cycle states. Urea was also used to favor the completion of the nitrogen levels that the crop needs.
The potato harvest in Ciego de Ávila is destined for the consumption of the population not only of that territory, but also of other provinces, such as Camagüey, Las Tunas, Guantánamo and Granma.
