Between January and April, farmers in the province of Las Tunas planted 14 hectares of citrus, almost twice than what was expected, contributing to the national program to rescue this kind of fruit.
Although it is still a very limited contribution, the plantings also exceeded by more than 170 percent the land planted in the same quarter of 2015.
So far this year, the farmers from Las Tunas have harvested about 200 tons of oranges, grapefruit, limes, and lemons; a volume that is higher than expected but significantly lower than what they collected in the same months last year.
As in all of Cuba, the decrease in citrus production in Las Tunas is due to various factors, including the strong hurricanes and very damaging pests, which have caused serious damage to the plantations.
Moreover, some fields were unusable because they had been exploited for a long time and because of the shortages of fertilizers and other resources after the fall of socialism, the tightening of the US blockade, and the domestic economic crisis, known as a special period in peacetime.
Nor can it be denied that there has been improper handling of crops in many places of the archipelago.
Located about 700 kilometers east of Havana, Las Tunas is the driest and one of the most deforested province in the country. Compared to other territories, it never achieved a high production of oranges, grapefruit, limes and, lemons, but it was well supplied from Santiago de Cuba, Camaguey, and Ciego de Avila.
Las Tunas farmers are currently working with other members of their sector so that the island's citrus industry relives its heyday and can even exceed the one million ton record harvest it achieved in 1990.
No matter how big the offer is, there are always market guarantees, both within national borders and internationally.
Source: tiempo21.cu