Graciela Alfonso
HAVANA, APRIL 20 (Graciela Alfonso) - The lack of attention and deforestation of important areas in the last decades are causing a scarcity of fruit in the country.
The certainty is that the majority of Cubans born after 1959 do not know the taste of canistel, of custard-apple, the caimito, the soursop, and the mamey from Santo Domingo, to mention only a few fruits.
The low incidence of consumption of fruits is due to two things. One if the lack of variety in the agricultural markets, the other the high prices.
The Enterprise of Select Fruits, in charge of marketing fresh produce, is in urgent need of supplying hotels and tourist facilities. By the year 2010 this entity will need 23,600 tons of non-citric fruit. Specialists affirm that from seed to plate the journey is long. The mamey, mango and the
coconut take more than 10 years to bear fruit.
From the economic angle the sum of tourist needs plus exportation add up to tens of thousands of tons. The latter confirms that the present reality promises to be of long duration. For the average Cuban the consumption of fruit will continue to be taboo if one waits for State projects.
Nevertheless, the plans of the independent cooperatives Progreso Uno, of Guantanamo and Baragua, and Havana city, include fruit orchards as their main crop.
Versión original en español
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