FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 02/99 - CUBA (22 February)
Planting of the winter paddy crop continues while harvesting of the potato crop is about to start under dry conditions. The aggregate 1998/99 paddy output is expected to be below average. Prospects are likely to worsen as the dry season has only started and moisture deficits have accumulated since November in the province of La Habana, parts of the province of Matanzas, the province of Camaguey and most of the eastern provinces which were affected by a prolonged drought in 1998. Harvesting of the 1998/99 sugar cane crop is underway. Despite damage incurred to plantations by hurricane “Georges” in late September, output is officially forecast to increase from last year’s 3.2 million tonnes, one of the lowest harvests in 50 years, to 3.6 million tonnes. This level of production is still less than half the output in the 1980s as the sugar cane industry, continues to be affected by shortages of farm inputs, fuel and spare parts.
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