The Cuban authorities intend to use drones to reverse the poor productive performance of the sugar industry, which is currently going through its worst crisis, with only 56 operating plants, out of the 156 in 1959.
Homero Menéndez Pérez, director of the remote sensing agency of the GEOCUBA Business Group, informed the Cuban News Agency (ACN) that his entity is using advanced technologies (drones with real image and multispectral cameras, and satellite snapshots), to carry out studies in the sugarcane plantations of the province of Ciego de Ávila.
According to the expert, the use of these means made it possible to determine the state of the crops, specifically the presence of vines that make mechanized and manual cane cuts difficult.
After identifying this weed, the drones will also be used for fumigation during the next sugar campaign.
"The Military Agricultural Union of this province will benefit from the allocation of drones, devices that will replace fumigation with tractors, which will prevent soil compaction and damage caused to plantations by heavy machinery," explained Menéndez Pérez.
The manager specified that these teams can spray up to three hectares per flight, at a rate of three every 15 minutes (about 80 hectares per day), in addition to saving fertilizers, minimizing damage to the environment and avoiding damage to neighboring crops.
"By having cameras with high performance, drones can identify, in a timely manner, areas affected by pests or weeds, which allows them to be programmed to fumigate specific sites," he explained.
In December, the leadership of the Cuban Communist Party debated a program of 93 measures to revitalize the production of sugar and its derivatives, as well as the generation of electrical energy from the contribution of the power plants.
The industry that was traditionally the most important source of income for the country, last season barely produced a little more than 800,000 metric tons of raw sugar, the lowest since 1908, and which represents 66 percent compliance with the plan, planned at 1.2 million tons.
"Since 2017, production in the sector has been decreasing and 2021 was the most critical moment," the Presidency of the Republic acknowledged on its Twitter account.
"The situation is worse this year than last and it will take time to reverse it," said a Cuban expert in November, who predicts that in 2022 the harvest results will be even lower.
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