Given the imminent approach of Hurricane Elsa to this eastern territory, the Provincial Delegation of Agriculture is already implementing measures to minimize the damage that this meteorological event may cause to the different programs.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- In dialogue with 26, Luis Oro Torres, head of the Department of Various Crops, reported that the harvest of various products that are already ready for commercialization is being reinforced. “At this time, he said, the areas that are being harvested are those planned, and also the productions planted in low areas will be collected, due to the danger of flooding.”
“The harvest will be done in an orderly fashion, explains the manager, with some restrictions so that there is availability and likewise food is not lost in the field. As of this day, it is expected to harvest about 2,600 tons of food, more than 900 of vegetables, 2,000 of fruit trees, mainly mango; and 425 of grains, to a greater extent, young corn, and cowpea beans,” he revealed.
Other actions are dedicated to the protection of the 32 existing irrigation machines in the province. “The wheels should be removed from those implements and tied tightly, to reduce the impacts they may receive from Hurricane Elsa. The protection brigades were activated to secure the pumping equipment and windmills.”
They pay special attention to growing houses. During the entire day on Saturday the ready crops will be harvested, Oro Torres said. “We will review these facilities and as a first action, the sides would be lowered. If the winds increase, at the time it is decided, the protected cultivation houses will be dismantled.”
Several measures are related to specifying the volumes of water in the reservoirs managed by entities of the Agricultural System. They allocate the available fuel to the fundamental and prioritized activities and protect products that can get wet, such as charcoal, animal feed, fertilizers, and pesticides.
Given the complexity that Hurricane Elsa could cause, Cuban Communist Party authorities in the province visited some of the main productive poles to specify the disaster risk reduction strategies and review the harvest plans with an eye, at first, in the possible occurrence of intense rains and winds.
