Droughts, rising sea levels, Cuba’s agriculture under threat

By MEGAN JANETSKY
Associated Press

BATABANO, Cuba (AP) — Like the rest of the Caribbean, Cuba is suffering from longer droughts, warmer waters, more intense storms, and higher sea levels because of climate change. The rainy season, already an obstacle to Cuban agricultural production, has gotten longer and wetter. Agriculture had been a bright spot in Cuba’s struggling economy. The socialist government has had a liberal hand with food producers, allowing them to pursue their interests more openly than others do. That’s easier because Cuba has ample sun, water and soil, the basic ingredients for plants and feeding animals. But by changing the way nature functions in the Caribbean, climate change is tinkering with the raw elements of productivity.