Guantanamo.- Nature, sometimes destructive, puts once again the producers of Valle de Caujerí to test, and also those of the entire municipality of San Antonio del Sur, who are engaged in an emergency planting plan for various crops to quickly repair the damage caused, first, by the intense rains of late September and early October, and then, without letup for weeks, Hurricane Melissa hit.
Between these two weather events, the damage totaled 1,560 hectares (ha), 800 of which correspond to the first event and 760 to the second. Plantations of bananas, cassava, sweet potatoes, taro, beans, corn, and tomatoes were either damaged or completely destroyed.
Seventy-five hectares of tomatoes, the emblematic crop of Valle de Caujerí, which is in sowing time, were affected. However, approximately 70 hectares remained standing, which, according to Diosmel Hernández López, the municipal delegate for Agriculture, will guarantee the availability of the vegetable at the end-of-year markets.
Since there is no room for complacency or lamenting, the only option is to move forward, with the conviction to plant much more than what was damaged and even more than what was planned in the initial winter planting season.
The recovery, as is customary, began with the collection of the damaged produce that is suitable for local consumption. This allowed for the harvesting of dozens of tons of plantains, cassava, and sweet potatoes, which were sold at fairs in the municipality and the provincial capital, in farmers’ markets, small markets, and for community consumption.
Then came the municipality’s new strategy and commitment that aims sowing 1,680 hectares of land between November and December, exceeding by more than 450 hectares the amount initially projected for that two-month period of the winter planting season.
