“Mango Loss Crisis in Guantanamo: Cuban Authorities Export to Russia to Save Crops”

2023-05-30 19:02:42

In Guantanamo municipalities such as San Antonio del Sur and Imías, hundreds of tons of mangoes are currently lost due to lack of management, transfer, and marketing. This serious situation takes place in the midst of a scenario as complex as the one the island is experiencing with the scarcity of resources and food.

Coupled with the inefficiencies of the production model are the lack of contracting and even the impossibility of transferring these crops. There are not a few digital profiles that have “denounced” this event, especially since the current prices of fruits might be branded as astronomical.

The truth is that the alternatives taken in this sense up to now are not efficient to achieve satisfactory crop yields. Therefore, this is accompanied by a shortage in the food market produced on the island.

However, it is not the first time it has happened. Unfortunately, this is a problem that recurs every year. Mango producers, for their part, see, in each harvest, how a large part of the fruit of their labor rots on the ground.

In 2017 alone, more than 2,600 tons of mangos were lost in the cultivation fields, out of a total of 6,794 that were produced. Meanwhile, in July 2022, the Ceballos agro-industrial company was another of those that suffered negative impacts on the harvest of this fruit.

In such a complex scenario, what is the position of the Cuban authorities?

The path of export seems the easiest to get rid of the hundreds of tons of fruit that are lost in these times. In this sense, a state company in Cienfuegos will begin, during the first week of June, to export mangoes to Russia.

This is the company Cítricos Arimao, which plans to export around 20 tons of the ‘super Hayden’ variety to the Russian market.

This entity, belonging to the Cienfuegos municipality of Cumanayagua, has 900 hectares dedicated to mango cultivation. Of these, only 35 have been certified since their planting to meet the strict sanitary requirements demanded by European customers. This was stated in a report broadcast on national television.

For his part, Isec Tellería Abreu, deputy director of the company explained that they began exporting to the French market. “The second week of June we started, for the first time, with the Russian market, with prices higher than those we reach today,” the official explained.

The destination of the rest of the production is planned to be sent to the Cienfuegos food industry for pulp, compotes and other social destinations. It will also be used for juices, nectars and jams in the company itself and for the sale of fresh fruits.

Russia continues to consolidate itself as one of the main partners of the Cuban government in the midst of the current situation on the island.

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