The lack of fuel that severely affects Cuba, and that could worsen even more after the recent events in Venezuela, hits in advance the recently begun sugar harvest.
The deficit of this vital resource has forced manual cane cutting to be prioritized over mechanized cutting, with the implications that this has on productivity.
In Granma, where only the Enidio Díaz mill in Campechuela will grind this year, manual cutting will represent almost 80% of the volume of cane that must reach the industry, according to what was reported at a government meeting on the subject.
To “stimulate” the work of the macheteros, the sugar authorities are betting on “important economic incentives,” the station reports CMKX Radio Bayamo. In this regard, the media specifies that the cutters will charge 700 pesos per ton of cane, which, according to the official estimate, could have monthly income between 20 thousand and 22 thousand pesos.
A similar salary could be earned by those who operate animal-drawn carts to transport cane, while “the payment to workers directly linked to sugar manufacturing will also increase,” he points out. CMKXwhich does not provide possible figures for the latter.
The diary Granma defined that strategy as “key” to what he described as a “complex situation with the availability of fuel and other inputs.”
From splendor to ruin: the Cuban sugar industry on the verge of collapse
A “complex” harvest
When evaluating the scenario of the current harvest —started at the end of December in Camagüey— The governor of Granma, Yanetsy Terry Gutiérrez, estimated that it will be “complex” and said that the territory will seek to “contribute the maximum possible in production.”
Enidio Díaz, which has not yet started grinding, has the plan for this campaign to produce more than 17 thousand tons of raw sugar, which must be allocated “fundamentally to the regulated family basket and social consumption,” according to Granma.
The Granma plant has already completed 99% of the repairs for its incorporation and this week a general test of the machinery is planned with a view to its certification, according to the local newspaper The Demajagua.
However, the media itself reports that some difficulties still persist on which work was continuing to “guarantee its vitality.”
The Cuban Government plans to produce about 229,500 tons of raw sugar and 15,000 tons of refined sugar in the current sugar contest, according to what was reported last December during the sessions of the National Assembly.
If achieved, although these are very low figures compared to decades ago, it would mean an increase compared to the less than 150 thousand tons produced in the previous campaign, considered the worst in more than a century on the island.
However, it remains to be seen whether it would be possible to fulfill the plan – something that has not been achieved in recent years – amid the worsening of the economic and energy crisis, and the growing uncertainty about the availability of fuel and shipments from Venezuela, as well as oil blockade plans that the Trump Administration manages to pressure Havana.
