The increase in the planting areas of root crops and fruit trees planned until 2024 will position the province of Ciego de Ávila in better conditions to meet local demands and meet delivery commitments to the country's capital.

 According to reports from the Provincial Government of People's Power, during an evaluation of compliance with the 63 measures to boost agriculture, having 13.42 hectares of bananas per 1000 inhabitants requires an effort to plant 5,800 hectares.

Yadiel Pérez Téllez, coordinator of Distribution Programs and Objectives at that instance, pointed out that currently there are 5,646.87 ha of this crop, representative of 72 percent of what was planned.

To these another 2,013 ha destined to produce this food for 150,000 inhabitants of the capital must be added, whose completion in the fixed term will depend on the arrival of drip irrigation systems to guarantee a coverage of 500 ha per year.

The leader stressed that the areas planted with cassava should reach 7,803 ha and only 42.5 percent of what was planned has been achieved, in view of which plantations destined for consumption in the province are encouraged, while the delivery commitment to La Havana is distributed among eight of the ten Ciego de Ávila municipalities.

Likewise, increases are planned in the production of sweet potatoes, taro and fruits (papaya, pineapple and guava, fundamentally) in accordance with the proportions established for every 10 000 inhabitants.

He highlighted the results of the Urban, Suburban and Family Agriculture Movement, which reaches 525.73 ha (12.16 square meters per inhabitant); a figure that behaves above the goal in the ten municipalities, however, the demand exceeds the capacity of production.

In this context, at the end of January, 5 934.84 tons of agricultural products were marketed in the province, which represents a per capita of 30.2 pounds (lb.) (14.2 of root vegetables, 11.3 of vegetables, 3.4 of grains and 1.7 of fruits), according to data from the Provincial Delegation of Agriculture.

In this sense, progress in the local self-sufficiency program can be seen in eight of the 10 municipalities, by achieving 30 lb. of agricultural products per inhabitant; only Florencia and Ciego de Ávila were lower, with 29.8 per person.