Cuba Plans to Boost Production of Sugar Cane
Cuba announced a campaign to boost sugar production to an all-time high over the next couple of years, mostly for export to Soviet Bloc countries.
Production from this year’s harvest, which began in November, is expected to top 8 million tons and grow to 9 million tons a year after that, the state-run Prensa Latina news agency said in a dispatch monitored in Mexico.
It quoted Juan Herrera, sugar industry minister, as saying the campaign includes better growing methods and savings in fuel used in harvesting and milling sugar cane.
Sugar, which is government-owned, is Cuba’s principal industry and accounts for about 80% of the country’s foreign income.
Exports in 1988 totaled 6.5 million tons, with 83% going to Soviet Bloc countries, the dispatch said.
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