The harvest in Ciego de Ávila is headed for failure and not only because of the amount of cane obtained, which has already been confirmed to be meager throughout the Island with only 69% than expected for the first two months of the harvest, known as the small harvest. The authorities of the province verified this Tuesday that the entire sector is in a terrible situation, although they attribute it to a “bad use” of government measures.
Among the data left by the meeting, according to the local newspaper Invasive, one of the worst was knowing that 32 of the 57 Ciego de Avila production bases have losses. He also revealed that the payments could not be delivered to the producers because they do not have the magnetic card provided for it. In addition, of the 100 million pesos destined to promote plantations, only 15 have been used.
“We have land, credits and we do not take full advantage of the potential within our reach. We must go to the base to exchange with the producers to solve the problems,” said Julio Andrés García Pérez, president of Grupo Azucarero Azcuba.
The cold campaign only reaches 73% of the planned plan to date and, as if the agricultural sector were not enough, the already known bad result for livestock was insisted on
The negative data was not limited to cane. In addition to commenting that production on state farms, where there is a lack of food for the workers and to contribute to the communities in which they are located, is lower than forecasts, it was said that the cassava and plantain planting is not going well either and 827 hectares are missing to plant due to seed problems.
The cold campaign only reaches 73% of the planned plan to date and, as if the agricultural sector were not enough, the already known bad result for livestock was insisted on. Without giving figures, it was stressed that in 2022 the milk and meat delivery plan was not met in a general way.
In this context, the solutions recommended this Tuesday by the authorities were the usual ones, always voluntaristic: work more, take advantage of few resources and not waste time.
“In a small harvest like the current one, the one who trusts himself loses. For this reason, we must be more aggressive in solving problems, not leave anything for later,” said García Pérez.
The worst, according to the official press from Ciego de Avila, is concentrated in the Ecuador Sugar Agroindustrial Company, in Baraguá, which has “deficiencies in the organization of the beginning of the harvest.” The company is recommended to take better advantage of its potential.
The mills must grind above 70%, but more work will also have to be done. Among the proposals is to double shifts or hire a third party to cut cane
However, the problems accumulate. There are no tires and batteries – a situation that “will have a positive, although not total, response in the coming days,” García said – and there is only one bulldozer working, so help from other entities is needed. The situation is such that the breakage of electrical transformers and other equipment has led to extreme deterioration in the seed bank. According to the note of Invasive, an investment is required to restore it during this year.
In addition, eternal corruption sneaks into the matter. The payment system through which the productivity of the operators is rewarded has been violated on several occasions, causing people who did not perform what was established to receive money for this concept to be paid. This, according to the managers, favors a decrease in the cutting rate, which affects the final result of the harvest.
“The main commitment in the short term is to end the month of January with 21,000 tons,” said Liván Izquierdo Alonso, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and its first secretary in the province. For this, the mills must grind above 70%, but more work will also have to be done. Among the proposals is to double shifts or hire a third party to cut cane.
Izquierdo Alonso, who insisted on the importance of multiplying the effort before excess humidity arrives, said that the goal for this year is to plant more than 12,000 hectares, the largest amount ever achieved in 2017.
The specialists, however, warn that the planting plan was not even half of what was planned at the end of 2022, and so far this year it has barely increased, so a rate of 40 hectares per day will be necessary if aspires to achieve a decent data.
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