SOURCE: CiberCuba
TRANSLATION: Freshplaza
The Cuban Ministry of Agriculture stated that Cuban farmers had a new pineapple variety that is “more resistant to pests and that has better possibilities to be used by the industry.”
This new variety, called Perola, is of Brazilian origin and yields 60 to 70 tons per hectare. According to the entity, this variety provides more juice, has less acidity, has a greater mass, and a shorter cultivation time than the Española Roja and Cayena Lisa varieties, the most cultivated bromeliads in the country.
The Ministry emphasized that it aspired this new variety would allow the country to export more pineapples this year than in 2019, despite the economic impact of COVID-19 on the world economy.
Reynaldo de Avila Guerra, the director of the UEB Pineapple Production, belonging to the Ceballos Agroindustrial Company, said the Perola pineapple was optimal for the industry, especially for Ceballos Industrial’s new processing line, which is capable of processing 15 to 20 tons of pineapple per hour and about 750 kilograms of sweet syrup in different formats.
De Avila Guerra also stressed that the UEB had not given up on surpassing the 184 tons of pineapple MD-2 they exported to Europe during 2019, which left revenues of more than US 134,000. The plan is to export 400 tons of this variety in 2020.