With the purpose of streamlining and humanizing the planting process, a tobacco seed planting machine operates in the municipality of San Juan y Martínez.
Located in the technical tunnels of the area known as La Nilda, it is capable of depositing one or two seeds in each alveolus, whether pelleted or natural, and filling a tray in about a minute. The equipment is the first to be put into operation. running in the country, out of 10 that currently exist.
This was explained by Manuel Armas Ramos, specialist at the Hermanos Saíz Tobacco Collection and Processing Company (ABT), who added that the machine will also allow substantial savings in seeds.
For his part, Michel Alejandro Valdés Ravelo, general director of the Company, commented that the new technology will allow progress in the irrigation of the 99,000 flowerbeds that are committed to starting the campaign next October.
He added that San Juan has agreed upon 3,170 hectares of cultivation, 240 of them dedicated to tapado and the rest to the first-class fine meadows, with the objective of obtaining 4,099 tons of the leaf. The province plans to plant nearly 13,000 hectares of tobacco in the 2023-2024 campaign.
