The workers of the Yumuri sugar co-operative in Cuba have tended the cane fields around Cienfuegos since they were old enough to handle a machete.

Cutting cane is all Miguel Guzmán has ever known. Coming from a family of farm hands, he began this tough and thankless job as a teenager.

For centuries, sugar was the backbone of the Cuban economy. It wasn’t just the island’s main export but also the foundation of another national industry: rum.

Older Cubans remember when the island’s economy was essentially built on the labor of families like Mr. Guzmán’s.

Today, however, Guzmán readily admits he has never seen the sugar industry as broken and depressed as it is now—not even when the Soviet Union’s lucrative sugar quotas vanished after the Cold War.

Rising inflation, shortages of basic goods, and the long-standing US economic embargo have created a dire economic outlook across Cuba. However, the situation is particularly grim in the sugar industry.

“There aren’t enough trucks, and fuel shortages mean sometimes several days pass before we can work,” says Miguel, as he waits in a small patch of shade for the Soviet-era trucks to arrive.

The lost hours of harvest, with men and machinery lying idle, have severely impacted production levels.

Last season, Cuba’s sugar production fell to just 350,000 tonnes of raw sugar, an all-time low for the country and significantly below the 1.3 million tonnes recorded in 2019.