One day we went to the banana plantations to tell the banana farmers’ top leader that we had never published bad news about Cuba’s flagship agricultural enterprise, except for damage from cyclones, drought and other environmental predators.
There, the agronomist engineer, who paid attention to the workers and collected welfare for his collective (more salary, stimulus shop, housing, diversified canteens…), argued the reason for the activation of the emergency light bulb, due to economic losses of millions of dollars in the La Cuba Agricultural Enterprise, in the southeast of the province of Ciego de Avila.
A spate of misfortunes was ravaging its red soil. In addition to the deep-rooted economic blockade, there were contingencies, crises, pandemics, changing administrations and frustrated strategies.
However, nothing could rob the labour collective of its fertility, nor its hopes of regaining its leadership. To his pride, he is with him again today, as an advisor, who did not accept retirement with passivity, because Carlitos Blanco is purebred.
SUBTITLE: The most comfortable office
A custom sprouts in the grooves. Now it is Ariel Nieves Concepción who considers the field to be the most comfortable and coolest office to feel the mass of workers and to know what kind of fibre each of his fellow workers is made of.
This is one of the pillars of the recovery phase underway, because when the new director general took over the reins of the largest banana fruit producer in the Cuban archipelago, the plan for the spring planting campaign was 30% complete last May, and concluded at 101%, with a highlight for the record-breaking sweet potato, with more than 250 hectares (ha) planted.
«The largest volume was of bananas with 700 ha, of which 160 ha corresponded to the extra-dense system; soya exceeded 300 ha and beans 80 ha.
«In the cold season, which has already begun, we will plant potatoes, tomatoes and beans, the latter with the aim of also placing a quantity for sale in the State Agricultural Markets, from the end of the year,» says Nieves Concepción.
Although the potential of the entity forecasts a greater impact on the table in about eight months, he considers that the productions are in a good moment, with the collection of 1,500 to 2,000 quintals daily of bananas and 1,000 of pumpkin and cucumber destined for the population, through the Company of Collection that assumes 75%; The tourist destinations Jardines del Rey and Varadero, as well as the provinces of Havana, Santiago de Cuba, Sancti Spíritus, Camagüey, Las Tunas, Holguín and Ciego de Ávila.
«The creation of an organic fertiliser production facility on our farms, which enabled us to apply earthworm humus to the 160 hectares planted with extra-dense bananas, and the revitalisation of the entomophagous breeding centre to combat pests and diseases, have been decisive in the results,» Ariel explains.
Other unripened fruits
One of the biggest contributors to this factory, as well as to agricultural production, is the work group led by Ángel Mompié Rivas, who enthusiastically shows off the banana, cassava and pumpkin plantations, all in impeccable health, based on careful cultural care in the face of limited inputs and electricity for water irrigation.
Two years ago, the company’s accounts were unclear due to economic losses of more than 70 million pesos, and personal income did not exceed 4,000 pesos per month. Currently, they are making profits and the average salary per worker is 22,000 pesos in the Mompié Rivas brigade.
With these dividends and so many others to count, the Gran Enano variety of bananas, the flagship crop, is growing in cultivable area in the La Cuba company, which recently hosted the national event for the Day of the Agricultural Worker.
