Cuban farmer Leonardo Abreu walks over the downed banana plants in a plot next to his house in Caimito, a town near Havana, while he reviews the damage after the passage of the Category 3 Hurricane Rafael that hit Cuba two weeks ago.
Abreu lost his bean and cassava crops, and suffered from the fall of mango and avocado trees and an almost unimaginable amount of bananas.
The fences of his farm are on the ground. His generator was not working and he has had no electricity for two weeks. Currently, there is no water to irrigate crops.
“This is hard. We have to start from scratch again,” said Abreu, 47, as he put his hands to his head.
Although it is bad news for his family, it is also bad news for Havana, whose almost 2 million residents depend on supplies from farms like this one to feed themselves.
The passage of Hurricane Rafael highlighted the growing vulnerability of the fragile local agricultural system and the difficulties that Cubans face in purchasing food.
Even before the storm, Cubans had seen prices soar amid growing food shortages, part of the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.
Several farmers Reuters spoke to in Artemisa province said food supplies would likely worsen.
“If you think things are bad now, wait a month,” said Abreu, who has dedicated his life to working the land he inherited from his grandfather.
Farmers like Abreu gathered as many crops as they could before and after the storm, stockpiling fruits and vegetables that weren’t quite ripe to rush to market.
But replacing the crops that were lost is the big problem, said Jorge Luis González, a 60-year-old farmer.
The winter planting season, when staples like cabbage, lettuce and tomatoes take root, would be delayed. “We can’t plant. The pumps run on electricity (…) we can’t do anything,” he added.
Cuba said Tuesday it had restored electricity to 62% in Artemisa province.
Havana blames U.S. trade and economic sanctions, which the government says make it difficult for farmers to purchase key inputs such as chicken and pig feed, as well as fertilizers, pesticides and fuel.
Agriculture Minister Ydael Pérez Brito said in October that farmers were working with just 10% of the fuel they need.
A record exodus of migrants, low wages and difficult working conditions have drained workers from the fields.
The near collapse of agriculture is clear. Official statistics show that the number of hens, including layers, have decreased by 62% since 2020, while breeding-age sows have decreased by 73% over the same period.
Both eggs and pork, once staples of the Cuban diet, have become scarce and expensive.
Fruit and vegetable prices have soared, with inflation reaching 30% in August, according to official statistics.
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