The producers from Ciego de Avila are working on an ambitious project to have more than 17,000 hectares of tropical fruits before the end of 2020 and to duplicate the current plantations of pineapple, guava, and mango.
At the end of last year there were more than nine thousand hectares of these species in Ciego de Avila, despite the damages caused by Hurricane Irma, which also affected papaya, coconut, and avocado, especially in the Ceballos Agroindustrial Company (EAC) and peasant areas.
The program is part of the application of agro-ecology to high-tech nurseries by taking advantage of the available resources and the contribution of specialists from the Plant Health Business Unit to eliminate insects or pests and increase the fertility of the soils, according to the ACN.
Wilver Bringas Fernandez, the director of the EAC, said that his workers and technicians had been working for several years to protect the soil with organic fertilizers, promote biodiversity, and breed sheep, goats, and other species in some of their plantations.
In addition, they are prioritizing the sowing of MD-2 pineapples and Red Spanish pineapples so as to reach two thousand hectares planted to increase deliveries to tourism and to export the first of these species, which was introduced in 2012 in Ciego de Avila with hybrids from Costa Rica.
Last year the Ciego de Avila only collected 7,700 tons of sweet fruit, a quantity that is well below their needs, so it was necessary to move some volumes from Villa Clara to Ciego de Avila.
Reinaldo de Avila Guerra, an engineer in charge of this crop in the south of the province, said that the MD-2 variety required exact cultural attention, good drainage, leveling of soils, irrigation systems, fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, but that it could yield up to 80 tons per hectare, four times more than the other variety.
The agricultural sector of the province has 14 small industries and a processing plant that produces pineapple preserves, juices, nectars, slices and segments in syrup, destined to tourism, local markets, and other centers.
Source: juventudrebelde.cu