Cacao is grown in Cuba in the hilly or mountainous sections of Oriente Province in the extreme eastern end of the island (fig. 29). It requires well-drained, sandy clay soils with humus and abundant rainfall. The crop is chiefly grown by small farmers, a few being independent owners but the majority being renters operating on a share-crop basis. Average acreage in cacao per grower was about 15 acres according to the census in 1936-37.

Cacao is endemic to tropical America. Three varieties are grown today: Calabacillo, a small-bean variety having a purple tinge and a very bitter taste; Forastero, a large, heavy dark bean, also having a bitter taste; and Criollo, the most valuable variety, with a lighter color, larger size, and sweeter taste, as well as a higher fat content than the other two varieties.

Seeds are planted in nurseries in November, and the seedlings are set out in April or May at the beginning of the rainy season. Banana plants are frequently used as shade. The flowers are small and yellowish and develop into fleshy yellow pods containing the seeds, or beans. These pods, however, are not permitted to develop until the tree is 3 or 4 years old. Some trees have been known to bear for 100 years. Trees are attacked by numerous parasites, but the witches'broom disease, serious in some countries, has not yet attacked trees in Cuba.

The principal crop is harvested twice yearly, the first or fall harvest taking place during October and November and the spring harvest during April and May. Actual picking is done by the planter and his family on the small farms and by hired labor on the large plantations. After the picking, the pods containing the cacao beans are broken and the beans are removed and subjected to a sweating process and then dried in the sun. The dried beans are packed in burlap sacks, containing about 132 pounds, and are then ready for shipment to the market.

Most of the crop is marketed through local merchants, although some larger growers in the Santiago region truck their crops to Habana over the central highway. The chief market is Habana, which takes from 90 to 95 percent of the crop. Cacao is classified by quality into two grades; the better grade, called Hacienda, is known in the United States market as Fine Estates Fermented; the lower grade is called Corriente. Prices in 1932 were at the disastrously low level of 2 to 3 cents a pound but during recent years have increased, although not to the pre-World War levels of 9 to 11 cents a pound.

About 90 percent of production is consumed by local manufacturers and confectioners in Habana. Only surplus production is exported, varying from 2.4 million pounds, valued at $351,000 in 1927, to practically none in some years. Exports amounted to 0.1 million pounds valued at $28,000 in 1940 (table 43). Most of the exports are to the United States, where cacao enters duty-free; but on account of the small and uncertain quantities, manufacturers in the United States prefer more stable supplies than the Cuban cacao for blending.

The production of cacao tends to be dependent on the sugar situation. When sugar prices were exceptionally good, cacao production dropped, and when sugar prices were low, cacao production increased. Prior to the war of 1914-18, Cuban cacao production was large, reaching 10 to 15 million pounds in some years. In 1919, when sugar

other kinds of bagging costing about 1 million dollars more. These imports alone cost Cuba about three times as much as the value of Cuba's exports of henequen fiber and products.

HENEQUEN

Henequen production in Cuba was small, estimated at less than 1 million pounds annually, until just before the first World War when it had increased to about 5 million pounds. Since then it expanded to an industry with exports valued at from 1 to 1.6 million dollars

are

32.0

of t

FIGURE 31.-A henequen field after semiannual harvest.

annually. The fiber is used primarily in the manufacture of binder twine, wrapping twines, and small rope.

Henequen requires about 4 years after planting before the first crop is ready for harvest-then it is harvested once or twice a year for 10 to 15 years. It is planted 4 to 5 feet apart in rows 8 to 10 feet apart, or about 1,000 plants per acre. The plants consist of a short central trunk bearing numerous heavy, long, narrow spikelike leaves, which have spines along the edge and tip and when mature are from 3 to 4 feet long. Young leaves grow from the top of the trunk in a nearly vertical position (see fig. 31), but as they mature, the lower leaves assume a nearly horizontal position and are ready to be harvested. Harvesting consists of cutting each leaf off with a knife. The leaves are then hauled to a factory, where the green and pulpy material is removed from fibers through a decortication process. They are then washed, dried in the sun, and tied into bales of about 500 pounds, ready for market. Each plant yields about 30

!

leaves a year, the per-acre yield being about 1,300 to 1,800 pounds of fibers.

Henequen requires a well-drained limestone soil and dry weather for the manufacturing process. Production areas center around Matanzas, Cienfuegos, the north coast of Camagüey, and southwestern Oriente. Total production is estimated 50 at about 35 million pounds annually, most of which is produced in the Matanzas area. There are no accurate acreage data, but it is estimated that there are from 32,000 to 37,000 acres, including fields not yet in production. Most of the production is in the hands of large companies because of the cost involved in the manufacturing plants necessary to extract the fibers. commercially. Some production is carried on by sugar céntrals.

Exports of fiber and products during the 5 years 1936-40 varied from 20 to 34 million pounds annually, about two-thirds of which were in the form of raw fiber and about one-third in the form of manufactured twine, rope, and cordage (table 44). Most of the raw fiber and practically all of the manufactured products are shipped to the United States. The other principal market for raw fiber during this 5-year period was Germany. Domestic consumption of twine and rope made from henequen requires only a small part of the total crop.

Production in Cuba could be considerably expanded, but the long time required before the plants are ready for harvest, the relatively low world market price, and the required investment in manufacturing plants discourage rapid expansion of the industry and make it unattractive for small farmers. Prices as reflected by average export values were abnormally high at between 5 and 6 cents a pound in 1936 and 1937, but during the 3 years 1938-40 they averaged only 3.2 to 3.8 cents a pound.

TABLE 44.-Henequen exports from Cuba, 1936–40

Com. Exterior, Cuba. Min. de Hacienda, Dir. Gen. de Estadís.

50 HOOVER, JOHN P. PRODUCTION AND TRADE IN SISAL AND HENEQUEN IN CUBA. 13654. 10 pp. June 6, 1941. [Mimeographed.]

CRAWFORD, WILLIAM A. THE PRODUCTION AND USE OF FIBROUS PLANTS IN CUBA. 22904. 24 pp. Oct. 4, 1941. [Mimeographed.]

U. S. Cons. Rpt.

U. S. Cons. Rpt.

yields vary with the regions and the method of handling. The following shows the equivalent quantities for the Oriente region (3).

100 pounds of fresh berries (cereza) produce 32 pounds of unhulled dry berries (cascara).

100 pounds of cascara produce 56 pounds of clean coffee (descascarada). 100 pounds of fresh berries therefore produce 17.9 pounds of clean coffee. Transportation of coffee from the farms to the market is generally an expensive operation because the farms are usually located in inaccessible mountainous regions that have either no roads or very rough roads, passable only for carts and pack trains. Consequently, from 80 to 90 percent of the coffee marketed as cascara is transported by mule pack trains, and possibly 10 percent by carts. The average distance to market is about 20 miles, and according to the census made in 1936-37 the average cost of this transportation is about 42 cents per hundred pounds of cascara coffee.

At the local markets the unhulled coffee is sold to merchants and storekeepers, who hull and rebag it in bags of 132 pounds for sale to coffee wholesalers and roasters. For domestic consumption coffee is roasted very dark and finely pulverized for making drip coffee.

The Government gave the first real stimulus to revitalizing the Cuban coffee industry through increased import duties in 1927, followed by further increases in 1932. Duties on green coffee were increased from 10.6 cents in 1927 to between 14.5 and 29 cents per pound after 1932. On roast and ground coffee the increases were even greater. Another important Government measure was the formation of the Cuban Coffee Stabilization Institute 49 in the winter of 1934-35, which was further strengthened through reorganization and additional powers in 1936. The general plan for assistance to the coffee industry has been (1) to reduce imports through higher duties, (2) to fix minimum prices domestically, and (3) to provide for compulsory exportation of a specified percentage of the crop in order to prevent accumulation of surpluses.

A decree in August 1936 established a minimum price of $5 per hundred pounds for all unhulled (cascara) coffee, which in turn determined the prices for green berries on the one hand and for finished coffee on the other. In 1939 the fixed minimum price was raised to $6 per hundred pounds unhulled, with a minimum price of $2.10 for fresh berries and $13 for finished coffee. This price, plus the costs of merchandising and roasting and allowance for shrinkages, resulted in prices to retailers of from 28 to 31 cents per pound, and to consumers of from 30 to 40 cents for popular grades in 1940. Prices of surplus coffee for export are, of course, determined by the world market level, which for Cuban coffee has recently been from 4 to 5 cents a pound, c. i. f. New York. Consequently, growers' returns on the exported portion have been very low.

In order to provide an outlet for the disposition of surplus production and existing stocks, a decree in April 1936 provided that 30 percent of all production must be segregated and exported within 90 days. This was done for nearly 3 years, but when supplies were reduced and imports increased, the portion to be exported was reduced by law to 20 percent in July 1940 and further reduced to 10 percent in November 1940. It was felt that if a large proportion were made

49 The Institute is supported by a share of the Government taxes on coffee, including a general consumption tax of one-fourth cent a pound on raw coffee and an additional tax of one-fourth cent on roasted coffee. The remainder of the coffee taxes are used by the Ministry of Agriculture for the purpose of promoting the welfare of the coffee industry, construction of roads in the coffee districts, and coffee propaganda abroad.