The potato harvest in Ciego de Ávila shows an acceptable behavior to date, despite the use of a fertilizer without the ideal characteristics for its growth and development in part of the planted areas and limitations in the acquisition of phytosanitary products.

Raúl Monguía Rodríguez, specialist in the provincial delegation of Agriculture in the cultivation of this food, informed the Cuban News Agency that, since the quantities of the appropriate fertilizer for potatoes were not completed, they resorted to the one used in tobacco, which does not provide all the necessary nutritional elements.

"As the planting was late due to the rains of last October and November, which prevented the different tasks in preparing the soil from being carried out in time, and there were also delays in the entry of fertilizers. The harvest forecast in the 110 hectares planted with national seed we estimate at 17 tons per hectare (t/ha), however, 18.6 tons (t) were achieved”, Monguía Rodríguez added.

He explained that the 2,046 tons collected in those 110 hectares (ha) were directed to the consumption of the population; social destination such as the Health and Education centers; the Ciego de Ávila`s Industry, to make pre-fried potatoes; and Tourism, in that order.

Since last March 18, farmers from Ciego de Ávila have been collecting the potato that was planted with imported seed, also with a late arrival, or that caused 84 percent of the areas to be planted in January, the specialist explained.

Of that seed, 1,020 ha were covered, in which we plan yields per hectare of 20.1 t, but the rainfall has already affected the 102.9 ha released to date and the behavior has been 18.5 t/ha, Monguía Rodríguez said.

"Although we know that this crop is very demanding and April is giving us yields below expectations, we do not give up the total harvest plan, which is 22,400 tons, because the varieties of the seed, coming from Holland and France. They are of a very good productive potential level and until the first days of March the behavior of the temperature was favorable”, the manager stated.

He specified that, for sale to the population, the per capita will be 14 pounds in the province, and quantities will be sent to Camagüey, Las Tunas and Guantánamo with the objective that the inhabitants of those places taste at least three pounds of potatoes grown in Ciego de Ávila.

Residents of the municipality of Majagua, who buy agricultural products in El Melón viands store, in statements to the Cuban News Agency agreed on the good size and quality of the potato in the three sales made so far, two pounds per person, in each one of them.

"I wish it were a year-round crop, because the potato combines with many recipes on the Cuban table and is a food rich in vitamin C and minerals, such as potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, iron and zinc, in addition to carbohydrates and proteins,” Eneida Palacios, a neighbor of the place, emphasized.

The various crop companies Arnaldo Ramírez and La Cuba, with their two Agricultural Production Cooperatives, Paquito González and the October Revolution, and the Máximo Gómez Credit and Services Cooperative (CCS), are involved in the campaign. Also the Integral Company Ciego de Ávila with the UEB El Mambí and the CCS El Vaquerito.