Droughts, rising sea levels, Cuba's agriculture under threat
The Hindu
Like the rest of the Caribbean, Cuba is suffering from longer droughts, warmer waters, more intense storms, and higher sea levels because of climate change
Yordán Díaz Gonzales pulled weeds from his fields with a tractor until Cuba's summer rainy season turned them into foot-deep red mud.
Now, it takes five farmhands to tend to Mr. Díaz’s crop that shrinks the Mr. Diaz’s profit margin and lowers Cuba‘s agricultural productivity, already burdened by a U.S. embargo and an unproductive state-controlled economy.
Like the rest of the Caribbean, Cuba is suffering from longer droughts, warmer waters, more intense storms, and higher sea levels because of climate change. The rainy season, already an obstacle, has gotten longer and wetter.
“We’re producing a lot less because of the weather,” said Mr. Diaz, a 38-year-old father of two. "We’re going to have to adapt to eating less because with every crop, we harvest less.”
Mr. Diaz used to produce black beans, a staple of the Cuban diet and his most profitable crop. His black-bean production has dropped 70%, which he attributes to climate change. A month after Hurricane Ian hit Cuba, Mr. Diaz was farming malanga root, a Cuban staple that is more resilient to climate change, but less profitable than beans.
“We’re just living in the present,” Mr. Diaz said. “My future doesn’t look very good.”
Mr. Diaz used to buy supplies a year or two ahead of needing them but his earnings are so unpredictable now that he buys his supplies right before the harvest.