Cuba extends tobacco planting campaign

Cuba extends tobacco planting campaign
Sunday, June 26, 2016 | 9:31 AM

HAVANA, Cuba (CMC) – Agriculture officials have announced plans to
extend the current tobacco campaign until July, to offset losses
stemming from weather conditions.

According to the first vice president of the TABACUBA cigar factory,
Miguel Vladimir Rodriquez Gonzales, the goal is to plant more tobacco to
ensure the restoration of the harvest.

He noted that given the climatic disadvantages, TABACUBA and its
business system adopted appropriate measures regarding risk prevention
against drought, heavy rains and high temperatures that cause the
appearance of pests and diseases.

Gonzales told reporters at a recent press conference, that in the
2015/2016 campaign, workers gathered 24,000 tons of tobacco leaves and
as a result,this will maintain the balance of the industry for this
year through the supply of raw materials for export and domestic
consumption.

He added that the company is already working on the schedule for next
season from April 1 and they have already selected seedbeds areas in
which a programme to eradicate pests is being continued.
However TABACUBA's industry director, Rodis Manuel Ortiz pointed to
major challenges facing the industry such as the modernization projects
of factories, expansion of productive capacities of cigarettes
nationwide and the need to standardize all exportable quality productions.

Source: Cuba extends tobacco planting campaign - News -
JamaicaObserver.com -
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Cuba-extends-tobacco-planting-campaign