(EFE).- A fire in the warehouse of a state-owned tobacco company in the western province of Pinar del Río – the main producer of this crop in Cuba – caused the loss of more than 30 tons of harvested leaves, the media reported this Sunday. state of the island.
The fire also affected a neighboring warehouse -belonging to private companies- that kept more than 4,000 longitudinal rods on which the tobacco leaf is hung to dry in the sun in the area known as El Vizcaíno, located on the road that leads to the municipality of San John and Martinez details the provincial newspaper Guerrilla.
After the incident was suffocated, workers from the Tobacco Collection and Processing Company carried out cleaning tasks in order to start the reconstruction of the warehouse next Monday.
The director of that entity, Osvaldo Santana, explained that both the tobacco stored in the state warehouse and the deposit of private producers have insurance that will cover the damage.
The tobacco industry represents the fourth sector that contributes the most income to Cuba’s GDP
A commission from the Ministry of the Interior is investigating the causes of the incident, the media reported.
The largest tobacco-producing area in Cuba is concentrated in Pinar del Río, where 16,921 hectares of the solanaceous plant were planted, 760 of them destined for covered tobacco –with cloth–, which provides the layers for the production of the famous Havana cigars.
The tobacco industry represents the fourth sector that contributes the most income to Cuba’s gross domestic product (GDP), and export sales reached 507 million dollars in 2020, according to data from the Spanish-Cuban company Habanos, which markets the exclusive Havana cigar brands.
For the 2021-2022 tobacco campaign, Cuba reduced the planting area by about 10% due to lack of fertilizers and other inputs necessary for this crop.
The sector employs some 200,000 workers on the island, rising to 250,000 at the peak of the harvest.
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