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Fruits take their rightful place
• Main destination for non-citrus
fruits are the farmer’s markets where prices remain
high. • Only 15% of production destined for tourism
• Mechanisms for coordinating increased canned fruit
production lacking
BY RAISA PAGES—Granma International staff writer
IN a hot country like Cuba,
to drink a chilled juice or eat a piece of fruit is
the most desirable way to quench your thirst on an
island that has an almost permanent summer.
The availability of fresh
fruit in the farmers’ markets has its ups and downs,
but what do remain high are the prices.
Before the economic crisis
of the 90’s, fruit production in Cuba did not meet
domestic demand, but the absence of a national
agriculture was not felt, due to imported canned
goods from Bulgaria and the Soviet Union.
But if during the 80’s,
canned fruits came from the former Eastern European
socialist bloc, prior to 1959 the United States was
the main exporter of fruits and canned goods to Cuba
until the supply was cut off when the blockade was
imposed. This cruel measure provoked a shortage of
compotes for children. In response, large fruit tree
plantations were created in different parts of the
country.
Doctor Emilio Farrés, deputy
director of the Tropical Fruit Cultivation Research
Institute, granted this weekly a panorama of current
plans regarding tropical fruit cultivation, its
achievements and unresolved problems.
THE BOOM HAD NOT ARRIVED
During the 80’s what always
comes to mind are Russian canned fruit and Bulgarian
juices, but the only Cuban preserve I remember is
Taoro juice.
During the 70’s and 80’s,
the country had around 60,000 hectares of those
crops, but with poorly developed technology and low
yields. In 1988, 268,000 tons of non-citrus fruit
were produced. This quantity was repeated in 1991.
That production level never
exceeded the domestic need of providing the
population with a fresh fruit supply, nor did it
meet export demands.
Before the economic crisis,
domestic production of mango and guava only met the
regulated quota of preserves for young children. At
that time, tropical fruit production technology was
very limited. There had not been sufficient research,
mainly because fruit growers were based in
developing countries, where there were research
shortages.
The physiological processes
and technologies needed to achieve impressive yields
and high levels of efficiency were unknown.
The international tropical
fruit market was very small and only included
pineapple, mango and avocado. The only fruit that
could be planned for the entire year was pineapple,
by means of the forced induction of the flowering
period, achieved in 1940. The other fruit would rot
after falling from the trees.
Neither were the post-harvest
technologies for extending the life of the fruit in
a fresh form available. When the country witnessed
the collapse of the Eastern European socialist bloc,
fruit growing production suffered a hard blow with
the shortage of agricultural supplies. There were no
resources such as fuel, fertilizer, pesticides, and
mechanized equipment.
There were no means of
transporting the fruit. In 1991, 268,000 tons were
cultivated and by 1993 the harvest had decreased to
68,000 tons.
Has the large influx of
tourists led to a recovery in fruit production?
Tourism today consumes less
than 15% of fresh tropical fruits, since the
majority of them are sold in the farmers’ markets.
In 1997 the Citrus and Fruit
Research Institute embarked on a mission to develop
a recovery program, consisting of three points: to
rescue fruit-growing areas that had production
possibilities; to promote new areas with a
technological level in line with the country’s
knowledge; and develop a popular movement for
planting in back yards and idle land.
Above all, in the 90’s came
the boom in new technologies, a result of many years
of research in many countries. Third World
emigration to the developed countries stimulated
knowledge of other fruits. Those factors created the
conditions for an international market, currently in
full expansion.
Why was it not possible to
maintain a constant supply of fruits?
In a country like ours,
where there is no diversity of climate and altitude,
fruits are seasonal. For example, mangos are
harvested between May and August. The rest of the
year they are consumed in preserved form.
The pineapple is the noblest
fruit because it is available virtually throughout
the year. Papaya and guava can be eaten fresh almost
all throughout the year. But irrigation has to be
available and you have to know how to prune them.
One of the present problems
of fruit growing is that only 50% of the areas are
irrigated. At times there is a lack of fuel for the
systems and sometimes they don’t even exist.
Everyone knows about the
long life of fruit trees. After planting a mamey
sapling, you have to wait 15 or 20 years before
seeing any fruit. How can fruit be cultivated
earlier without having to wait so long?
Dwarf guavas were one of the
first successes of Cuban science, together with the
introduction of a high-yield papaya, known as the
maradol, were introduced by the deceased
agricultural geneticist Adolfo Rodriguez.
In Cuba the most produced
fruit is mango, although we have managed to vary its
proportion, to diversify the selection more. This
year around 430,000 tons of non-citrus fruits were
harvested, 40% more than in 1991.
The red mamey is finding a
space. We have achieved a grafting system so that
this plant produces fruit in four to five years. A
grower from Bejucal, Lázaro Hernández, has grafted
more than 2,000 mamey bushes. Similar grafting is
underway in Villa Clara, Cifuentes, Ciego de Avila.
The mamey is not like mango, which is planted on a
much larger scale.
One of the responsibilities
of the Tropical Fruit Cultivation Research Center is
to search for new varieties whose quality is as good
as the dwarf guava or the Maradol papaya.
What benefits has
agricultural diversification brought to fruit
production?
Growth in production is due
to diversification undertaken by Cuban companies.
Every entity now has fruit growing areas. More than
50% of citrus fruits in Cuba are harvested by the
Victoria de Girón enterprise, located in Jaquey
Grande. However, they have also been
successful in growing other fruits there, such as
mango, red mamey, dwarf guavas, pineapple, avocado
and others. Their papaya production is of such a
high quality that they are exporting to Europe and
Canada.
Cuban agricultural companies
have realized that diversification of production is
one of the key factors to economic success, to have
several business options and to take advantage of
every area.
At the Batabanó enterprise
in Habana province, they have made maximum use of
the land and cultivated fruits in all the free
spaces between the irrigation machines. And at Ceiba
in Caimito, another Habana enterprise, they have
planted many fruits and promoted the cultivation of
peaches with good results.
Pineapple is no longer
exclusive to Ciego de Avila province. Its
cultivation has spread to the rest of the provinces.
Beforehand, 80% of pineapples were harvested in
Ciego de Avila, and even now, although still being
the largest producer, it only contributes 25% of
national production.
And the yields?
They have increased. The
Maradol papaya produces 18 to 20 tons per hectare,
which places us within the world’s average range,
although there are many Cuban products that surpass
this result.
In the case of the dwarf
guava, the yield has duplicated and now produces 14
to 15 tons per hectare. The efficiency of the dwarf
clones can be appreciated by the fact that although
they only occupy 52% of the total area, they
contribute to 84% of the harvest.
The current mango
plantations are producing between 5-6 tons per
hectare. With Cuban and foreign varieties, the
intention is that the new trees will produce over 15
tons, with the same varieties but a different
handling, where there are Cuban and introduced
varieties.
And native fruit trees such
as anone, soursop and custard apple trees?
As part of our popular
movement, we are rescuing those fruit trees that
cannot be planted on a large scale. The urban
agricultural fruit program has had some success.
They are not directed at a
commercial market but are grown in backyards and in
idle areas. They cannot be planted but have to grow
naturally. But apart from that, we are developing
small plantations for these fruits.
What has been the principal
contribution of the Research Center?
The technical support
provided by this program. The fruit tree station is
about to turn 40 years old. The Institute has
acquired successes in other areas and adapted them
to our conditions. The dwarf guava plant emerged
from a collection at the Institute of Tropical
Agriculture. As a system, a method, a more efficient
form was needed for the dwarf guava, the center was
put in charge of finding the right technology.
In 1993-1994, the
reproductive system of using cuttings from a guava
plant was introduced, which lowered the costs of
producing seedlings. Previously 14 and 15 months
were needed to obtain a guava seedling. By using
cuttings, this period was shortened to five or six
months.
We have more than 100
modernized fruit tree nurseries. The mango is
planted by grafted stock, just like the avocado. In
the case of the pineapple, this bush is capable of
reproducing from its own fruit, which provide the
seedlings. But the papaya continues to be propagated
by seeds.
We use biotechnological
micro-propagation reproduction, such as in vitro
plants, when we want to introduce a new variety in a
short time period, as we did with the gray mullet
cayenne pineapple. From a business perspective, an
in vitro plant can cost between 13 and 15 cents.
And business mechanisms. Why
is there not more Cuban canned fruit?
Tropical fruit is mainly
sold fresh to the population, in addition to
ensuring that children receive their standard quote
of compote.
There are other fruits that
could be sold commercially, such as the papaya, but
these are resistant to metal, but not crystal or
plastic containers.
Even if growers earn enough
money with the sale of fruit in the farmers’ markets,
they do not have mechanisms for acquiring
convertible currency to buy the supplies needed an
which are only available in that currency.
When they sell to the
tourist sector there is a rate of return in
convertible pesos, but those who sell to the
national market only get paid in Cuban pesos.
With the food industry, we
will have to find a mechanism as we did with the
agribusiness companies.
The Ceballos agribusiness
plant pays one part in convertible currency to the
growers linked to that complex. There are many
dispersed growers who deliver to Ceballos, because
they receive this type of payment.
In the canned food industry,
companies provide this type of payment because the
grower has to purchase his supplies with hard
currency.
The country has had to
import fruit pulp. Why with that money don’t we
create a mechanism that will allow growers to
produce it here?
Cuba has already produced
more than 100,000 tons of mangos and 46,000 tons of
guavas this year. In Sancti Spiritus, they use the
same system as the Ceballos plant by part paying the
growers in convertible currency.
The methods implemented by
the fruit cultivation business group have proven
effective and efficient at directing investments
where they are needed.
Likewise, the growers have
to obtain a larger fruit cultivation culture. The
mango that we plant now has no relation to earlier
technologies, because the density of bushes has
quadrupled and require a different type of pruning.
It involves inducing the mango’s flowering stage in
order to lengthen the harvest and increase the yield.
We are also extending the mango to other areas to
produce it in another period and not confining its
supply to the months of May through August.
In so far as the
possibilities permit, fruit growers also have to
make investments in irrigation. There is no
cultivation that can withstand such an extensive
drought.
Also we lack the means to
preserve fruits after they are harvested and can see
many deficiencies in the fruits that are sold to the
population. •
Current structure of fruit
trees in Cuba
Mango
32%
Guava
10%
Coconut
13%
Pineapple
4%
Papaya
13%
Europe and U.S. the major
importers
• THE most marketed tropical
fruits in the world are the pineapple, mango,
avocado and papaya, which represent 75% of the world’s
total production
• Increase in international
demand forecast • Next year it is estimated that 50%
of pineapple exports will go to European market,
essentially France
• Northern America to
receive 42% of mango imports, Europe 24% and the Far
and Middle East 17% and 14% respectively • Mango one
of the few tropical fruits that both the developed
and underdeveloped nations import in large
quantities
• Next year imports of
avocado, a fruit produced mainly in Latin America
and the Caribbean, to increase by 55% due to the
European – particularly French -- demand • The
United States constitutes the second largest market
for tropical fruit in the world and is the largest
purchaser of papayas, capturing 55% of global sales
• Some 80% of fresh fruit exports sent to developed
countries
(Source: FAO) |
