After readjusting the planting plans from the end of the tobacco campaign, the Tobacco Collection and Processing Company (ABT) Hermanos Saíz de San Juan y Martínez advances in the recovery of the curing capacity and in the collection of the leaf .
From an initial plan of 1,270 hectares (ha) they reduced the area to 1,085, also caused by the presence of blue mold in a group of seedbeds. Of this total, they planted 150 ha of tapado and 935.32 ha of first class fine vegas.
According to Luis Cruz Valdés, agricultural director of the entity, the first months of the conflict have been punished by an intense drought and they had losses of 38 ha. With the more than 600 that are still in the fields, the agrotechnical work continues in the midst of the critical situation with fuel, which makes irrigation difficult.
He added that in the case of the construction of casas de cura, 520 have been completed with 2,366 rooms, an amount that would guarantee the capacity to cure the tobacco planted, without the risk of it being lost for that reason.
However, -he said- that the forestry companies continue with the delivery of wood and that means that they have 420 structures in sequence that will be used for the next campaign, with the aspiration of retaking the 3,200 ha that the municipality traditionally plants.
He highlighted that to date, just over a million cujes have been collected and they are working on the recovery of the artificial cure capacity in places like Río Seco and Vivero, with the aim of making it ready for the upcoming contest.
In relation to the benefit, Vladimir Ríos Pérez, the company’s pre-industrial director, said that 16 centers operate in the municipality for this purpose, 15 of them selected and one destemmed.
“From the 2021-2022 campaign, 880 tons
“In the covering we already managed to benefit the 53 t that remained due to the passage of the cyclone and added to the total collection of the last campaign we obtained 34.5 t of layer. For the present we have drawn up the plans adjusted to reality and in the sun tobacco it is 1,650 t and covered 238 t, of which there are already 24 tons collected with very good curing conditions ”, he concluded.