A 70 per cent increase in land dedicated to tobacco production is planned for the next growing season, Xinhua news agency said in a story citing remarks by Vice President José Ramón Machado Ventura.

Machado, on a visit to Pinar del Rio, the tobacco centre, said quality tobacco from Cuba is an advantage the country cannot afford to waste, the Chinese news agency reported. Production in recent years has declined due to lack of a mature infrastructure and aging growers, the vice president reportedly said.
Next season an additional 15,940 hectares (39,400 acres) are to be planted in Pinar del Rio, which represents about 70 per cent of the current national total, according to Xinhua.