Considered one of the major citrus firms in the country, the company concluded the harvest in June, reporting a total output of 435,000 tons and a yield of nearly 24 tons per hectare.

This year's harvest is close to the more than 500,000 tons of citrus a year the company used to produce before the region was hit by Hurricane Michelle in 2001.

The Victoria de Girón company is also harvesting papaya, as part of an initiative that consisted of planting more than 700,000 papaya trees among citrus plants to take advantage of irrigation and fertilizers.

That way, the company produces low-cost high-quality papaya for export to Canada and Spain, as well as for tourism facilities throughout the country.

Some 10,000 tons of papaya, tomato and pepper will be produced in 2004 for the Cuban tourism industry.

By: Dtcuba