Holguin, Cuba.- With the start here of the sugar harvest 2019-2020, the northeastern province of Holguin aims to produce more than 160 thousand tons of sugar, one of the largest figures in the country, despite the upsurge of the U.S. blockade that directly affects this industry.

The traditional whistle of the factory Cristino Naranjo, in the municipality of Cacocum, marked the start of the program called ‘small harvest’, which is scheduled to end at the end of December.

Juan José Padrón, head of the Sugar Industry of the territory, explained that this time the five plants will harvest, the Urbano Noris, López Peña, Loynaz Hechavarría and Fernando de Dios factories, where sugar cane is cut mechanically.

For its part, Orlando Teruel, head of mechanization and transport of the entity, emphasized that for this harvest they have a park of 132 combine harvesters in order to fulfill the proposed plan, which will last 156 days.

Precisely, sugar is among the first three most important export items in the province, in addition to nickel and tobacco.

The director of the Holguín Sugar Company, Reyna Salermo, said they plan a production with a standard potential of 62.8 percent and yields per hectare of 38.3 tons per hectare.

In the previous harvest, the territory complied with the plans of the small harvest, after six years without achieving it.