Drought will not affect Cuba's sugar production: VP

Cuba will maintain its "expected" levels of sugar production despite the worst drought in 115 years, said Cuban Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura on Friday.

"Any lowering of production from sugar cane fields because of the drought will be recovered at the industrial stage thanks to better organization and greater efficiency. Under no circumstances will we be forced to stop producing larger quantities of sugar and its derivatives," said Machado Ventura.

Machado Ventura, also the second secretary-general of the Cuban Communist Party, chaired a meeting with 250 business leaders organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and state-owned agricultural giant, Azcuba.

The vice president announced that the government would now begin to allocate two to three million U.S. dollars a year to the agricultural sector, to help buy spare parts and upgrade machinery. However, he insisted that "the money invested must be backed up with production figures."

Cuba increased its sugar production by 18 percent during the 2014-2015 harvest but failed to meet its forecast of 1.8 million tonnes.

These figures are drastically down from the record 8 million tonnes of sugar produced in 1990-1991. Production plummeted after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the island's main economic ally, falling to its lowest ever total of 1.1 million tonnes in 2010.

The island needs between 600,000 and 700,000 tons of sugar for its domestic consumption, another 400,000 tons are exported to China, while the rest goes to other international markets. Endite