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Sat Jul 6, 8:03 Pm Et . By Vivian Sequera, Associated Press Writer
HAVANA - After decades in Cuba's sugar industry, Ezequiel Bonilla is finding
it hard to give up the only way of life he's known.
"I don't like it," Bonilla says of the government's decision to
cut sugar's industrial capacity by 50 percent and close many of its 154 sugar
mills, including the one he has lived near all his 65 years.
"Since I was born I haven't done anything else," Bonilla said in
the village of sugar worker families built around the Osvaldo Sanchez mill in
Havana province, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) southeast of the capital.
As world prices tumble, Cuba is struggling to remain competitive by remaking
its sugar industry and replacing about half of the 1.4 million hectares (3.5
million acres) once used to grow cane with crops that bring more income or help
feed Cubans. The overhaul will change the lives of hundreds of thousands of
Cubans.
Sitting in the doorway of the home he shares with his wife and two small
children, Bonilla is anxious about the change. He has spent the past 49 years
operating the old steam trains long used to transport cane.
The government promises workers will not suffer because of the overhaul.
In the November-to-April harvest season this year, Bonilla said the
government paid workers a dlrs 30 to dlrs 40 bonus in January — along with
their average monthly salary of about 540 pesos — just more than dlrs 20.
At another nearby mill — Amistad con los Pueblos, or "Friendship
with Nations" — authorities are examining ways to retire older
workers. For younger workers, alternatives include training in new trades, or
agricultural jobs such as rice cultivation or ranching.
"Land that isn't used for sugar can be used for rice," said Rafael
Villegas, vice director of the National Institute of Sugar Cane. He said an
islandwide study completed last year found only about half of the 2 million
hectares (5 million acres) of land traditionally devoted to cane was suited for
that use.
Foreign analysts say Cuba is on the right track by trying to downsize.
"It is the right step at the right moment," Peter Baron, president
of the London-based International Sugar Organization, said during a sugar
conference here in June.
By focusing on land best suited for sugar cultivation, industry officials
hope to improve the yield from about 16 tons of cane for every acre to 23 tons
in three years.
In addition to the worldwide price slump, the Cuban sugar industry has been
battered by Hurricane Michelle, which marched across central Cuba in early
November.
A U.S. Agriculture Department report in December estimated Michelle caused
about dlrs 75 million in damage to the 2001-2002 sugar harvest that just ended.
The same report estimated Cuban sugar exports — which have averaged dlrs
550 million annually — fell to about dlrs 476 million.
The hurricane also caused heavy damage to mills. Even before Michelle, Cuban
authorities estimated it would cost dlrs 4 million to dlrs 5 million to
modernize each one.
Baron says foreign capital would be needed to undertake such renovations.
"We are always open to hearing proposals," Sugar Minister Ulises
Rosales del Toro said recently about opening the state-run industry to foreign
capital. Such investment thus far is extremely limited.
Cuba, nevertheless, remains among the world's most important sugar exporters
— fourth behind Brazil, the European Union ( news - web sites) and
Thailand. For Cuba to stop producing sugar altogether, Baron said, "would
be a sin." | 
