Havana/The month of October is being an ordeal for the vegueros of Pinar del Río. The intense rains of recent weeks have complicated the first stages of the tobacco campaigna battle that is now being fought in the seedbeds. The lack of inputs and the authorities’ refusal to pay producers in dollars also complicate the picture.
From the municipality of San Luis, Orestes predicts that they will have a reduced harvest when the campaign concludes. “We are experiencing one of the worst moments in the sector in terms of income, profitability and indebtedness of the farmers, here the one who is not pawned on the one hand there is pawned on the other,” the producer tells 14ymedio.
Along with the rainfall that has flooded plots and compromised the development of seeds, Orestes points out the lack of foreign currency among the greatest difficulties they are experiencing on their farm, land owned by their family for almost a century and in which the planting of tobacco had been the main agricultural activity until reality forced them “to plant more crops to survive.”
“The MLC (freely convertible currency) continues to be the way in which we are paid for part of the tobacco we deliver and of course, right now that currency is on the ground,” he details in a week in which the virtual currency is priced at 200 pesos, less than half of the dollar that already reaches 468. “Every day that passes the MLC serves less purpose.”
The constant demands of the vegueros to be compensated in dollars seem to have fallen on deaf ears and the disappointment of the producers is influencing the decision to use their vegas to plant other products that they can market more freely.
In 2024, the Hispanic-Cuban company Habanos SA managed to raise 827 million dollars
The hardships of the producers contrast with the official figures, which point to tobacco as one of the few businesses that They prosper on the Island despite the crisis agriculture, and the propaganda of the regime, which presumes to treat with care to the sector. In 2024, the Hispanic-Cuban company Habanos SA managed to raise 827 million dollars – 106 million more than a year before – which represented an increase of 14.7% in the income shared by the two partners. The achievement was attributed to the more than 4,700 cigar marketing points it has around the world, the main ones in China, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Germany.
“One thing is in the international market and another inland,” Orestes clarifies. “Right now they are giving a stimulus in national currency and a small discount to producers of strung sun tobacco who start this stage early,” a technique in which the leaves are strung on a string after being harvested and hung upside down in galleys to dry slowly in the sun. “But the Cuban peso is not encouraging.”
In San Juan y Martínez, another of the main tobacco centers in the province and part of the so-called Pinar del Río tobacco massif, the opinion is shared by Juan José and his family. “There is very little enthusiasm because the stimulus that is being given—at most, 30% above the gross value of the producer’s sales to the State—is very little when compared to the expenses we have to make just to start planting.”
“There is a sit-down strike by many farmers, who without solvency find themselves unable to start a campaign and move to food crops,” says Juan José, who has seen the cultivation of cassava, taro, tomatoes and beans as a more profitable option. The percentage of land he dedicates to these products is increasing on his farm, but this October the penalty for those who choose to reduce the amount of land dedicated to tobacco threatens to be harsher.
“They have told us that the inspectors are going to review everything and will fine those who are planting something else”
“The company intends to solve everything with threats of repressive actions against those who use the land destined for tobacco for something else,” warns the farmer. The message that the authorities of the sector have sent is clear: “They have told us that the inspectors are going to review everything and will impose fines on those who are planting something else, even the usufructuaries can lose the land if they do not abide by what is established.”
Other threats that Pinar del Río tobacco growers have received is the cancellation of already approved credits if they insist on dedicating part of their rows to other crops. “The truth is that the approval of credits is very slow and the amounts are more than insufficient,” warns the farmer. “On average, under the calculations made, they can cover, at most, 40% of the expenses of a campaign, but due to irregularities in the cost sheet and current inflation, they barely end up covering 25% of the costs.”
Access to supplies also hinders the campaign. Recently Marino Murillo Jorge, president of Tabacuba, inaugurated a supply store in Las Ovasin the municipality of Pinar del Río, with hardware, masonry and electrical components for sale at MLC. The authorities boast that the implements have a price “25-30% cheaper than in the current national market”, but for Juan José the reduction is insufficient.
“The Las Ovas store has many problems with access to the place and connectivity to make payments in MLC”
“For this measure to be a favorable action, it should never be less than 70%,” he says. A reduction that should also include the costs of repairing the tobacco curing houses. “The Las Ovas store has many problems with access to the place and connectivity to make payments in MLC,” explains the veguero who has not seen the promise that this type of business would also extend to San Luis and San Juan y Martínez materialize.
“Here, more than 50% of the producers intend to expand food crops and take ground away from tobacco because they lack the courage to continue with the plantation,” he clarifies. “Many are now occupying the tobacco areas with food under the justification that they will join the late planting of tobacco, after January, but everyone knows that if we do not first obtain the food we need for the family it is impossible to face the tobacco campaign.”
For Juan José, everything could change in the coming weeks if the sector authorities increase the stimuli or decide to cross the red line that they have maintained in relation to payment in foreign currency. “This is the flagship of exports, the line that is giving fresh dollars to state coffers and we also want part of that money in a real currency.”
