Havana/Optimism dominates the official discourse despite adversity. The living proof is Osbel Lorenzo Rodríguez, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) in Las Tunas, a province that has been the only one to make public the harvest plan. The Antonio Guiteras mill plans to grind more than 38,000 tons of sugar, a downward revision of last year’s forecasts, which were 45,000.
The results obtained, however, were only 7,200 tons, 16%, which suggests a new catastrophe. “This is the harvest of dignity, shame, honor,” said Lorenzo Rodríguez, who recalled “the terrible results of the last campaign and insisted that the next one, which is expected to begin in the second half of January, will take place in very difficult conditions,” indicates the provincial newspaper Newspaper 26.
Without fuel, without energy, without inputs, without machinery and without hands with which to cut the cane, the party leader could not offer anything to collect such adverse data. However, he “urged to confront them [los problemas] with the fighting spirit that has always characterized the working class of the Cuban sugar sector.”
The amount is ridiculous compared to the 10% that goes to Business Services, Real Estate and Rental Activities
With these tools, voluntarism, in the midst of a panorama that is not only bleak but threatens to get worse due to the fragility of the situation of their Venezuelan ally, Nicolás Maduro, the authorities intend to recover a sector that they consider “essential” for “its impact on the economic and social development of the country.”
This significance is not reflected, however, in investments. Until October, the Government only dedicated 0.3% of the total amount allocated to the state system and budgets to the sugar industry. In addition to two tenths less than the previous year, the amount is ridiculous when compared to the 10% that goes to Business services, real estate and rental activities, as one of the areas of tourism is called. In fact, the investment in sugar is the lowest of all, only equaled by that in fishing.
Thus, it is little surprise that last year the harvest was even worse than estimated. 42.5% of what was planned was produced, according to the authorities in the National Assembly in the most recent Ordinary Period of Sessions, which was held on Thursday the 18th in a format reduced to one day due to the crisis. There the data was revealed that leaves only 127,300 tons produced in 2024, far from the 147,652 calculated by the Spanish agency EFE based on the partial accounts provided by some plants. For 2026, some 229,500 tons are planned, which seems practically impossible.
Nor will another of the essential issues be resolved: the planting plan is not fulfilled and producers do not feel stimulated
The sugar managers in Las Tunas reported on how the preparations are going and presented as one of the most worrying emergencies the shortage of labor, “decimated by the intermittencies of the harvest and the exodus of their workers, who are fundamentally seeking stability in their income and salary improvements in other entities.” For this reason, it was proposed to better train those who remain and seek it in other centers, something that will not eliminate the root of the problem at all.
Another essential issue will not be resolved either: the planting plan is not fulfilled and producers do not feel encouraged to produce more because there is a lot of cane left uncut in their fields. The lack of fuel and lubricants were other difficulties reported, although there was also a dose of guilt for the workers, who were reproached for wasting the work day and for lack of vigilance against theft and corruption.
