Cuba focuses on sugar industry in new investment programme

An investment program has been planned to boost the production of sugar and its derivatives in Cuba, said one of the country's business leaders.
Under the program, distilleries would be modernized, new plants of ensiled feed, honey, urea and cane bagasse would be set up, said investment director of the Business Group Azcuba Pedro Perez.
Modern techniques of water supply, including the drip irrigation system, would also be introduced.
Perez stressed the priority of the cane production, a major source to obtain sugar, animal feed, energy and other derivatives.
He said that sugar production in Cuba was expected to grow 15 percent during the upcoming harvest.
According to the plan, the 2014-2015 harvest will start from the third week of November.
Azcuba expected a yield of approximately 44 tons of cane per hectare in the coming harvest.
Cuba increased sugar production by only 3 percent during the 2013-2014 harvest amid bad weather. It had planned an increase of 18 percent.
Sugar production, which for over a century remained one of the key industries of the island, suffered from a severe disinvestment, representing now only about 5 percent of the export income of the Caribbean nation.
Most of the 59 sugar refineries in Cuba were built before 1959, therefore a heavy investment is needed for rehabilitation.