Coffee Harvest Kicks Off in Santiago de Cuba

The most important coffee producer of the country, Santiago de Cuba province, has begun the 2014-2015 harvest, focused on rearranging the capacity of the agricultural sector in terms of production and marketing, in line with the progressive advance of the development program drawn up for this economic activity through 2020.

July set the beginning of the bean harvest at the main coffee plantations in Santiago where, according to the actions undertaken to recover this product, the authorities are looking forward to collecting over 1,500.000 cans of coffee, which would undoubtedly clear the way for the territory to reach out more than 7,000 tons of coffee before 2019.

As many as 74 pulpers and agricultural consumables are ready to meet the requirements of the present harvest, while more attractive prices are being studied, targeting farmers and producers that are already signing the contracts.

Likewise, 86 camps will be set up by the end of the month in order to house, starting in September, nearly 15,000 students from different levels that are going to participate in the five stages of the Countryside School Plan.

If some extra hands are needed, women and men from the mountain range would join the ripening process. The authorities are also working to improve the conditions of paths and roads on the mountain.

The Third Front’s coffee company, based in Cuba’s largest producer of the bean, has taken the lead to guarantee the quality and quantity of this harvest.

Taking care of the harvest is an essential task in order to obtain top-quality beans. That’s the reason why a lot of work is being done, including fertilizing, pruning and cleaning up in farms.

With the aim of obtaining a quantitative and qualitatively better product, the authorities in Santiago are organizing the work force and restoring 10 camps to house those workers who go to areas of difficult access, such as El Laurel, Las Bocas, Matías and La tabla.

Moreover, 19 pulpers have been repaired, a green despulpadora is going to be used at El Laurel and there is another one for Arroyón. This equipment favor the quality of coffee in key enclaves to the 2014-2015 harvest.

The rehabilitation program has also obtained results, with the sowing of nearly 3.000 hectares.