Fruits take their rightful place (Granma International, December 30, 2006)

Fruits take their rightful place
• Main destination for non-citrus fruits are the farmer’s markets where prices remain high. • Only 15% of production destined for tourism • Mechanisms for coordinating increased canned fruit production lacking

BY RAISA PAGES—Granma International staff writer

IN a hot country like Cuba, to drink a chilled juice or eat a piece of fruit is the most desirable way to quench your thirst on an island that has an almost permanent summer.

Tropical fruits are a market in full
international expansion.

Fresh pineapples are available
year-round due to the forced induction
of its flowering season.

New technological methods in
mango plantations will lead to
increase in current yields.

The availability of fresh fruit in the farmers’ markets has its ups and downs, but what do remain high are the prices.

Before the economic crisis of the 90’s, fruit production in Cuba did not meet domestic demand, but the absence of a national agriculture was not felt, due to imported canned goods from Bulgaria and the Soviet Union.

But if during the 80’s, canned fruits came from the former Eastern European socialist bloc, prior to 1959 the United States was the main exporter of fruits and canned goods to Cuba until the supply was cut off when the blockade was imposed. This cruel measure provoked a shortage of compotes for children. In response, large fruit tree plantations were created in different parts of the country.

Doctor Emilio Farrés, deputy director of the Tropical Fruit Cultivation Research Institute, granted this weekly a panorama of current plans regarding tropical fruit cultivation, its achievements and unresolved problems.

During the 80’s what always comes to mind are Russian canned fruit and Bulgarian juices, but the only Cuban preserve I remember is Taoro juice.

During the 70’s and 80’s, the country had around 60,000 hectares of those crops, but with poorly developed technology and low yields. In 1988, 268,000 tons of non-citrus fruit were produced. This quantity was repeated in 1991.

That production level never exceeded the domestic need of providing the population with a fresh fruit supply, nor did it meet export demands.

Before the economic crisis, domestic production of mango and guava only met the regulated quota of preserves for young children. At that time, tropical fruit production technology was very limited. There had not been sufficient research, mainly because fruit growers were based in developing countries, where there were research shortages.

The physiological processes and technologies needed to achieve impressive yields and high levels of efficiency were unknown.

The international tropical fruit market was very small and only included pineapple, mango and avocado. The only fruit that could be planned for the entire year was pineapple, by means of the forced induction of the flowering period, achieved in 1940. The other fruit would rot after falling from the trees.

Neither were the post-harvest technologies for extending the life of the fruit in a fresh form available. When the country witnessed the collapse of the Eastern European socialist bloc, fruit growing production suffered a hard blow with the shortage of agricultural supplies. There were no resources such as fuel, fertilizer, pesticides, and mechanized equipment.

There were no means of transporting the fruit. In 1991, 268,000 tons were cultivated and by 1993 the harvest had decreased to 68,000 tons.

Tourism today consumes less than 15% of fresh tropical fruits, since the majority of them are sold in the farmers’ markets.

In 1997 the Citrus and Fruit Research Institute embarked on a mission to develop a recovery program, consisting of three points: to rescue fruit-growing areas that had production possibilities; to promote new areas with a technological level in line with the country’s knowledge; and develop a popular movement for planting in back yards and idle land.

Above all, in the 90’s came the boom in new technologies, a result of many years of research in many countries. Third World emigration to the developed countries stimulated knowledge of other fruits. Those factors created the conditions for an international market, currently in full expansion.

In a country like ours, where there is no diversity of climate and altitude, fruits are seasonal. For example, mangos are harvested between May and August. The rest of the year they are consumed in preserved form.

The pineapple is the noblest fruit because it is available virtually throughout the year. Papaya and guava can be eaten fresh almost all throughout the year. But irrigation has to be available and you have to know how to prune them.

One of the present problems of fruit growing is that only 50% of the areas are irrigated. At times there is a lack of fuel for the systems and sometimes they don’t even exist.

Everyone knows about the long life of fruit trees. After planting a mamey sapling, you have to wait 15 or 20 years before seeing any fruit. How can fruit be cultivated earlier without having to wait so long?

Dwarf guavas were one of the first successes of Cuban science, together with the introduction of a high-yield papaya, known as the maradol, were introduced by the deceased agricultural geneticist Adolfo Rodriguez.

In Cuba the most produced fruit is mango, although we have managed to vary its proportion, to diversify the selection more. This year around 430,000 tons of non-citrus fruits were harvested, 40% more than in 1991.

The red mamey is finding a space. We have achieved a grafting system so that this plant produces fruit in four to five years. A grower from Bejucal, Lázaro Hernández, has grafted more than 2,000 mamey bushes. Similar grafting is underway in Villa Clara, Cifuentes, Ciego de Avila. The mamey is not like mango, which is planted on a much larger scale.

One of the responsibilities of the Tropical Fruit Cultivation Research Center is to search for new varieties whose quality is as good as the dwarf guava or the Maradol papaya.

Growth in production is due to diversification undertaken by Cuban companies. Every entity now has fruit growing areas. More than 50% of citrus fruits in Cuba are harvested by the Victoria de Girón enterprise, located in Jaquey Grande. However, they have also been successful in growing other fruits there, such as mango, red mamey, dwarf guavas, pineapple, avocado and others. Their papaya production is of such a high quality that they are exporting to Europe and Canada.

Cuban agricultural companies have realized that diversification of production is one of the key factors to economic success, to have several business options and to take advantage of every area.

At the Batabanó enterprise in Habana province, they have made maximum use of the land and cultivated fruits in all the free spaces between the irrigation machines. And at Ceiba in Caimito, another Habana enterprise, they have planted many fruits and promoted the cultivation of peaches with good results.

Pineapple is no longer exclusive to Ciego de Avila province. Its cultivation has spread to the rest of the provinces. Beforehand, 80% of pineapples were harvested in Ciego de Avila, and even now, although still being the largest producer, it only contributes 25% of national production.

They have increased. The Maradol papaya produces 18 to 20 tons per hectare, which places us within the world’s average range, although there are many Cuban products that surpass this result.

In the case of the dwarf guava, the yield has duplicated and now produces 14 to 15 tons per hectare. The efficiency of the dwarf clones can be appreciated by the fact that although they only occupy 52% of the total area, they contribute to 84% of the harvest.

The current mango plantations are producing between 5-6 tons per hectare. With Cuban and foreign varieties, the intention is that the new trees will produce over 15 tons, with the same varieties but a different handling, where there are Cuban and introduced varieties.

As part of our popular movement, we are rescuing those fruit trees that cannot be planted on a large scale. The urban agricultural fruit program has had some success.

They are not directed at a commercial market but are grown in backyards and in idle areas. They cannot be planted but have to grow naturally. But apart from that, we are developing small plantations for these fruits.

The technical support provided by this program. The fruit tree station is about to turn 40 years old. The Institute has acquired successes in other areas and adapted them to our conditions. The dwarf guava plant emerged from a collection at the Institute of Tropical Agriculture. As a system, a method, a more efficient form was needed for the dwarf guava, the center was put in charge of finding the right technology.

In 1993-1994, the reproductive system of using cuttings from a guava plant was introduced, which lowered the costs of producing seedlings. Previously 14 and 15 months were needed to obtain a guava seedling. By using cuttings, this period was shortened to five or six months.

We have more than 100 modernized fruit tree nurseries. The mango is planted by grafted stock, just like the avocado. In the case of the pineapple, this bush is capable of reproducing from its own fruit, which provide the seedlings. But the papaya continues to be propagated by seeds.

We use biotechnological micro-propagation reproduction, such as in vitro plants, when we want to introduce a new variety in a short time period, as we did with the gray mullet cayenne pineapple. From a business perspective, an in vitro plant can cost between 13 and 15 cents.

Tropical fruit is mainly sold fresh to the population, in addition to ensuring that children receive their standard quote of compote.

There are other fruits that could be sold commercially, such as the papaya, but these are resistant to metal, but not crystal or plastic containers.

Even if growers earn enough money with the sale of fruit in the farmers’ markets, they do not have mechanisms for acquiring convertible currency to buy the supplies needed an which are only available in that currency.

When they sell to the tourist sector there is a rate of return in convertible pesos, but those who sell to the national market only get paid in Cuban pesos.

With the food industry, we will have to find a mechanism as we did with the agribusiness companies.

The Ceballos agribusiness plant pays one part in convertible currency to the growers linked to that complex. There are many dispersed growers who deliver to Ceballos, because they receive this type of payment.

In the canned food industry, companies provide this type of payment because the grower has to purchase his supplies with hard currency.

The country has had to import fruit pulp. Why with that money don’t we create a mechanism that will allow growers to produce it here?

Cuba has already produced more than 100,000 tons of mangos and 46,000 tons of guavas this year. In Sancti Spiritus, they use the same system as the Ceballos plant by part paying the growers in convertible currency.

The methods implemented by the fruit cultivation business group have proven effective and efficient at directing investments where they are needed.

Likewise, the growers have to obtain a larger fruit cultivation culture. The mango that we plant now has no relation to earlier technologies, because the density of bushes has quadrupled and require a different type of pruning. It involves inducing the mango’s flowering stage in order to lengthen the harvest and increase the yield. We are also extending the mango to other areas to produce it in another period and not confining its supply to the months of May through August.

In so far as the possibilities permit, fruit growers also have to make investments in irrigation. There is no cultivation that can withstand such an extensive drought.

Also we lack the means to preserve fruits after they are harvested and can see many deficiencies in the fruits that are sold to the population. •

• THE most marketed tropical fruits in the world are the pineapple, mango, avocado and papaya, which represent 75% of the world’s total production

• Increase in international demand forecast • Next year it is estimated that 50% of pineapple exports will go to European market, essentially France

• Northern America to receive 42% of mango imports, Europe 24% and the Far and Middle East 17% and 14% respectively • Mango one of the few tropical fruits that both the developed and underdeveloped nations import in large quantities

• Next year imports of avocado, a fruit produced mainly in Latin America and the Caribbean, to increase by 55% due to the European – particularly French -- demand • The United States constitutes the second largest market for tropical fruit in the world and is the largest purchaser of papayas, capturing 55% of global sales • Some 80% of fresh fruit exports sent to developed countries