Production down 12% in Cuba's top tobacco region

Posted on Wed, May. 16, 2007

Production down 12% in Cuba's top tobacco region

HAVANA --
(AP) -- The tobacco harvest fell 12 percent this year compared to 2006
in Cuba's main cigar-producing province, and officials plan to trim the
number of workers dedicated to production in the region, state media
reported Wednesday.

Exact figures on the harvest in Pinar del Rio province were not given,
but the Communist Party newspaper Granma put the year-to-year decline at
12 percent. It said that heavy rainfall made it possible to harvest the
leaves of just 47,880 acres instead of the planned 53,090 acres.

Government officials also told the newspaper they planned to reduce the
more than 11,700 workers involved in tobacco harvests, but they did not
say by how much.

Pinar del Rio in westernmost Cuba is the island's top producer of
premium cigar tobacco.

http://www.miamiherald.com/579/story/108727.html