These

other kinds of bagging costing about 1 million dollars more. 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

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 centrals.

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.

CROPS PRODUCED PRIMARILY FOR DOMESTIC
CONSUMPTION

Climatic conditions in Cuba prevent the commercial production of the cereal grains common in the United States, such as wheat, barley, rye, and oats. Corn, some rice, and a little millet are the only grains grown in Cuba. Production of rice is small compared with the total requirements of about 475 million pounds. Imports of wheat, largely in the form of flour, amount to about 210 million pounds at a cost of from 4 to 6 million dollars annually. In addition, about 3 million pounds of other grains are imported, chiefly oats to be used as feed for army horses and barley for brewing. Some corn is imported, but exports usually exceed imports.

Beans and peas are an important item in the diet, and are extensively grown in Cuba, but production accounts for only about two-thirds of the requirements, necessitating importation of some 55 million pounds at a cost of nearly 2 million dollars a year.

Cuba also produces large quantities of root crops, including sweetpotatoes, yams, white potatoes, and two others largely unknown in the United States, namely yuca and malanga (table 45). In addition, plantains, that is, cooking bananas, must also be mentioned as an important item of domestically grown food. During recent years the production of peanuts for crushing, to replace imported vegetable oils, has also expanded rapidly. Together, the acreage devoted to these food crops, exclusive of plantains, accounts for about 20 percent of the total area of cultivated land.

TABLE 45.-Estimated quantities of grains and other starchy crops used as food in Cuba, 1938

Corn meal is an important item of food, and considerable quantities of corn are grown in all parts of the island. Yields are low, and relatively little is used for feed. It is estimated that at least 300,000 acres of corn are grown; and, with an estimated average yield of 15 bushels an acre, total production approximates 5 million bushels. Yields are estimated at from 8 to 30 bushels an acre, which, although low when compared with that in the Corn Belt of the United States, nevertheless are equal to and even somewhat higher than those in the Southern States.

All of the corn is of the hard, flint variety. It is grown on small farms either during the wet summer season or in winter. A large part of the crop is grown for sale as food in the towns, but there is usually a wide spread between the price received locally by the farmers at the time of harvest and the prices on urban markets

several months later.

Farmers usually receive from 40 cents to $1 per bushel shelled, but several months later prices in Habana are commonly $2 a bushel. One important factor contributing to this wide price spread is the difficulty of storing corn so as to prevent insect damage and the absence of such storage facilities on small farms.

Corn is at present not extensively used for feed, and it is problematical whether it can be produced at sufficiently low cost to justify its extensive use. On the export market, it must compete with cheap supplies from other corn-producing countries. Nevertheless, some feel that, with improved varieties, practices, equipment, marketing, and storage, production for consumption in Cuba could be expanded. RICE

Rice is the most important grain consumed in Cuba, its consumption being considerably greater than that of corn meal and wheat flour combined. It is the basic item in the daily diet; and the national dish, "arroz con pollo," consists of rice cooked with chicken. The importance of rice in the Cuban diet is indicated by a consumption during the 6 years 1935-40 varying from 450 to 500 million pounds annually, amounting to about 110 pounds per capita compared with only about 6 pounds per capita in the United States.

Nearly all of this important commodity is imported (table 46). Domestic production has supplied only from 5 to 10 percent of the country's requirements, leaving the major part to be supplied by imports, which have ranged from 412 to 494 million pounds annually at a cost of from 7 to 10 million dollars (table 47). Until 1937 practically all of the imported rice was obtained from the Far East: Thailand (Siam), Burma, French Indochina, and India-countries which import very little of Cuban goods. Subsequently, more advantageous tariff rates on United States rice, rising prices in the Far East, and, more recently, the severely restricted shipping space as a result of the war have practically cut off imports from the Far East and have resulted in substantially increased imports from the United States-from an average of 20 million pounds annually prior to 1937 to 357 million pounds in 1941 (table 47).

TABLE 46.-Rice production and imports, 1911-40

TABLE 47.-Rice imports into Cuba, by country of origin, 1926-41

Rice is the largest single item (in value) of all Cuban imports and accounts for from one-fourth to one-third of all imports of agricultural products. During the 3 years 1938-40, the value of rice exports from the United States to Cuba considerably exceeded that of any other agricultural product. In 1937, 1938, and 1939 two-thirds of all United States rice exports were to Cuba, and in 1940 the proportion rose to 86 percent.

The Cuban Government relies heavily for revenue on import duties on rice. The general rate applicable to rice from Thailand is about 2.13 cents per pound, from other countries (except the United States) 1.68 cents, and from the United States 0.84 cent per pound as reduced under the trade agreement of 1934.51

Rice has long been grown in Cuba. Although there is no indication of the volume of early production, records indicate that it was grown commercially as early as 1861 and that with slave labor a considerable part of the country's requirements were produced domestically before the great expansion in the sugar industry. Production declined until some years ago, when renewed efforts were made to increase production in order to reduce the amount of foreign exchange expended for the importation of rice and also to provide profitable employment for some of the people unemployed as a result of the decline in the sugar industry. Furthermore, the work on the rice crop is from late spring to early fall during the dead season when sugar mills are not operating. Until recently rice was produced by the most primitive methods. It is grown largely on small farms with an average of 6 to 8 acres of rice per farm. Most of the production has been without irrigation, though a few farmers irrigate. Rice is grown only in the wet summer season, after such crops as corn, beans, or peanuts in the winter. The ground is usually prepared by cross-plowing several times with oldfashioned plows and oxen. The field is then marked off, and rice is planted in furrows by hand, and the fields are hoed to remove weeds (fig. 32). Harvesting is also almost entirely by hand and consists of cutting the grain with a sickle, tying it into bundles, and putting it in shocks. Threshing is also done by hand or by percussion. This, in addition to requiring a large amount of labor, results in breaking many of the grains, thus producing an inferior product. Most of the

$1 In addition to the import duty, an excise tax of 10 cents per 100 kilograms (220 pounds) is imposed on all imported rice except that from the United States and Indochina. The revenue from this tax is used to promote domestic rice production.