According to a statement made by Miguel Rodgriguez, vice president of the state-owned Tabacuba, Cuba lost more than 320 tons of tobacco to the rain and flooding. Two million tobacco leaves were damaged by being exposed to so much moisture. Many tobacco producers are now working hard to make up for the damages caused by the rains. The tobacco plants in the field were the most impacted and farmers have been rushing to salvage the leaves from those plants that weren’t completely lost. Workers have been working hard to collect these leaves and to start the drying process. Other farmers are counting on mother nature–in the form of sunshine–to help them continue to plant and harvest tobacco as they normally would.
Factory workers are putting in double the time they normally would to get the country’s premium cigar manufacturing back on track. Many factories were closed for a week as the country recovered from the excessive tropical rains. The biggest buyers of Cuban cigars include Spain, France, and China. Tobacco farmers are now working hard to plant 30,500 hectares of tobacco for the 2018-2019 season.
