Cuba will reduce the tobacco planting area by about 10 percent in the 2021-2022 season due to a lack of supplies, reports Market Research Telecast.
According to Granma, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba, only 22,550 hectares out of the initially planned 25,000 hectares have been planted with tobacco this season.
Farmers in Pinar del Río, which typically accounts for 65 percent of the island’s tobacco production expect to plant only 13,921 hectares this year—the smallest area dedicated to tobacco in the province over the past decade.
Meanwhile, rains from Hurricane Ida last August and resource constraints have delayed the planting of some 3,000 hectares until January, beyond the optimal time.
Cuba’s tobacco exports reached $507 million in 2020, according to Habanos, which markets Cuba’s renowned cigars.
The sector employs some 200,000 workers on the island, rising to 250,000 at the peak of the harvest.