About 4,000 hectares of plantains in the province of Ciego de Ávila were devastated by Hurricane Irma with its strong winds, rain and subsequent excess moisture, practically one hundred percent of the fields that were planted.
According to the engineer Orlando Pérez Pedreira, delegate of Agriculture in the Avilanian territory, the destruction of this hydrometeorological phenomenon on this crop had never been recorded here, and it also severely affected maize and other crop plantations.
According to preliminary estimates, losses reported to date amount to more than 50,000 tons of bananas between the so-called burro, vianda and fruit, but gathering centers and other agencies accelerate collection for local and other territories' markets.
Only the varied crops company La Cuba, a national leader in this type of tillage as they benefit several provinces, had losses of about two thousand 500 hectares that remained in the ground next to the clusters, although its workers will increase the sowing of other short cycle foods.
The rest of the banana damage affected the cooperative-peasant sector, while rice fields in the municipalities of Bolivia and Chambas are flooded, reported Hanoi Sanchez Medina, provincial president of the National Association of Small Farmers.
Source: ACN