The 2022-2023 tobacco season officially began in Las Tunas with the sowing of the first areas in the Cuba Va Credit and Services Cooperative (CCS), of the municipality of Majibacoa, and simultaneous activities in other territories.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- Carlos Betancourt Almaguer, general director of the Tobacco Collection, Processing, and Twisting Company, reported that the cultivation of the Solanaceae also began in "Jesús Menéndez," and seedbeds irrigation in Manatí and "Colombia", fundamentally.

He explained that the campaign has been reduced to just 250 hectares, an adjustment to the conditions of the country's economy, especially because of the insufficient fuel availability for land conditioning and irrigation.

“We expect to obtain 325 tons, with a yield of 1.3 tons per hectare; we can reach that figure because organizational measures have been adopted so that we can stagger planting."

“With this scrolling of the calendar, we aspire to plant most of the tobacco in November and December, even a little in January 2023. For this, we have tried to guarantee the seeds and fertilizers, and the phytosanitary products are expected to arrive on time."

“We have to coordinate the other activities that ensure the campaign; for example, the granting of credits, the linkage between seed producers and tobacco farmers, and the transfer of the seedlings.”

In Las Tunas, tobacco will be sown in all municipalities, except “Amancio.” In previous campaigns, we worked with more than 400 producers, but now only 162 were selected and the rest is hired to support food production for the population.

“Tobacco farmers always achieve significant agri-food productions, as part of the natural rotation of crops. Besides, in the cold campaign, it is customary to plant 75 percent of the lands with tobacco and the remaining 25 with other lines. Meanwhile, in the spring, the whole area is dedicated to food farming.

Several associates with the Cuba Va CCS have become protagonists of the La Ceiba tobacco productive pole. They have a lot of motivation and willingness to comply with the 2022-2023 season, according to Aldo Díaz Núñez, president of this productive unit.

He added that some 85 hectares are dedicated to the line but peasants also prioritize the planting of crops such as cassava, corn, and sweet potato, to deliver the products to the municipal self-supply program.

Omar Mulet Ramayo, who undertakes his third tobacco campaign in the lands he received in usufruct, considers that he has grown up as a farmer and is pleased that in other years he has had excellent yields.

“Now, I want to surpass those results and achieve better leave quality. I will plant three hectares of the Corojo 2006 variety - very resistant to pests and diseases - with the Sol-Palo cultivation technology, so I aspire to a good economic outcome.

“I sow other crops too, and it is food for my family and the people. But tobacco is what I like the most, although there is no time to rest. It is from Monday to Sunday, removing grass, debudding, irrigating... There is always something to do in a vega.”