The province of Guantánamo kicked off its coffee harvest for 2026-2027 with activity in eight municipalities and an explicit challenge to reverse a previous harvest that was described as "very low" by the official Cuban press itself, according to reported by the Cuban News Agency on Friday, September 18, citing the provincial newspaper Venceremos.
The official statement acknowledges directly that "Guantánamo faces the challenge of achieving an efficient harvest, as the previous one was very low, first affected by heavy rains and then by Hurricane Melissa, which knocked down much of the grain and damaged the crops."
The hurricane Melissa made landfall in eastern Cuba during the early hours of October 29, 2025, as a category 3 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of around 195 km/h. The phenomenon caused severe agricultural and infrastructure damage in Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Holguín, and Guantánamo. Estimates of the affected agricultural area increased with subsequent assessments: a regional report from the Pan American Health Organization in November placed the losses at around 158,000 hectares of crops.
By the close of Thursday, September 17, the province reported a total of 25,535 cans processed, a figure that the state agency describes as not high but warns, "should not create confidence, especially in the municipalities with the highest production, where a grain explosion creates urgencies and difficulties." Of that total, 20,395 mature cans were from the municipality of Maisí, the largest producer in the province.
Regarding the collection, the province had gathered up to that date 34,374 cans, once again led by Maisí with just over 20,800 units. Following were Yateras and El Salvador, each with over three thousand cans. The provincial estimate for the entire 2026-2027 harvest amounts to 294,568 cans, with Maisí, El Salvador, and Yateras being the municipalities with the highest delivery commitment, in that order, the source indicates.
From that estimated total, just over 145,600 cans will need to be processed, which represents 52% of the projected harvest. The state agency warns that the anticipated increase in maturation—supported by recent rainfall and high temperatures—"must be closely monitored by the teams involved in the harvest to ensure timely collection and prevent the falling and loss of cherries."
The situation facing Guantánamo is not isolated: it is part of a prolonged structural crisis in the Cuban coffee sector. In the first half of 2025, the industry reported a production of only 2,887 tons of coffee, equivalent to 23.7% of the projected plan, compared to an estimated national consumption need of around 24,000 tons annually. In Santiago de Cuba, the country's main coffee-producing region, the 2024-2025 harvest was only at 65% of the expected target by the end of February.
The situation has reached such extremes that, in August 2026, the Manuel Ascunce roasting plant in Villa Clara had to process corn, sorghum, and rice due to the lack of sufficient coffee to operate.
Behind the productive collapse lie causes that the regime partially acknowledges: the mass exodus of rural workers from mountainous areas, power outages, delays in payments to producers, and a chronic shortage of supplies.
Cuba surpassed 60,000 tons of coffee annually at the beginning of the 1960s. Six decades later, official Cuban figures placed the 2021 harvest at just 11,500 tons, amidst a long-term trend marked by a decline in production, yields, and land dedicated to cultivation.
The estimate of 294,568 cans for the 2026-2027 harvest in Guantánamo represents the official commitment to regain lost ground, but the recent history of the sector — along with warnings from the state press about the risks of losing the grain due to untimely harvesting — suggests that this optimism is built on fragile foundations.
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