{"id":313123,"date":"2024-11-13T17:17:14","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T22:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=313123"},"modified":"2024-11-13T17:17:14","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T22:17:14","slug":"aquaculture-at-the-crossroads-intensive-or-extensive-family-or-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/economy\/aquaculture-at-the-crossroads-intensive-or-extensive-family-or-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Aquaculture at the crossroads: intensive or extensive? family or state?"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 500 days have gone by since Deputy Prime Minister Jorge Luis Tapia, speaking before the National Assembly of People\u2019s Power in July 2023, <\/span>said<\/span><\/a>\u00a0that aquaculture is \u201cone of the fastest ways to increase the production of animal protein\u201d in Cuba.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By that date, of the 5 kg of animal protein that each Cuban should receive monthly, there had even been a decrease compared to 2022: <\/span>from 438 grams per inhabitant in that year, it dropped to 347 grams in May 2023<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the official statistics for the end of 2023 are not yet published, everything indicates that the \u201cpoor use of the capacities of this program\u201d was maintained, as described by Tapia, who, deviating from the text he was reading, called on the population to farm fish in small ponds in their yards.<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201canecdote\u201d is what is most remembered from his appearance, dedicated to describing and evaluating the implementation of the <\/span>Law on Food and Nutritional Sovereignty and Security<\/span><\/a>, approved by the same parliament in 2022, and which, according to Tapia, did not achieve the \u201cdesired effects.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Paradoxically, this all happened after numerous headlines across the country referred to record production and stocking of fry, pond recovery and international collaboration projects that would necessarily change the face of this sector of the food industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2016, the IPS news agency <\/span>reported<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on the experience of the La Juventud fish farm in Pinar del R\u00edo, where the introduction of genetically improved species, the use of good feed and the application of science (injection of hormones to achieve more males than females) predicted a promising future for that unit and the rest of the island. The Ministry of the Food Industry ventured forecasts such as doubling the current catch volume (more than 27,000 tons) by 2030.<\/span><\/p>\n

It seemed that this would be the case, since in 2018 the same agency <\/span>reported<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on a collaboration project with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), through which genetically improved tilapia would arrive in Cuba from Brazil, thanks to financing of about 300,000 dollars.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2020, <\/span>Las Tunas<\/span><\/a> was forecast to farm 10 million fingerlings and \u201crescue\u201d bodies of water with no useful value, including 16 hectares in the fish farming center itself. In 2021, the plans in <\/span>Ciego de \u00c1vila<\/span><\/a> included the rehabilitation of a pipeline and the recovery of 74 ponds, to round out some 2,900 tons of catch.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two years later, in 2023, <\/span>Villa Clara<\/span><\/a> took on the same actions as a priority, even though Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel had already <\/span>indicated<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in 2019 that aquaculture should be rescued.<\/span><\/p>\n

In August of this year, in <\/span>Camag\u00fcey<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0there was talk, at least in plans, of producing 64 million fingerlings \u2015 the highest figure in the country \u2015 to stock all the bodies of water in its territory.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in Sancti Sp\u00edritus \u2015 one of the provinces with the largest catch plan, above 3,000 tons per year \u2015 the <\/span>local newspaper<\/span><\/a> told the story of a retiree who had queued for days in the vicinity of the fish market and who, finally, had to leave with an empty bag.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where are the fish?<\/b><\/p>\n

The authorities have been talking about recovering and rescuing for five years, without fully explaining why the decline in the sector has occurred for a decade. About ten years ago, the highest catches of the four main species of aquaculture in Cuba were made: carp, tench, tilapia and clarias (we exclude white shrimp, produced for export and not for domestic consumption).<\/span><\/p>\n