Cuban company plans to collect 1,400 tons of shrimp by 2024

BAYAMO, Cuba, Jan 8 (ACN) The Shrimp Farming Business Unit (UEB by its Spanish acronym) of the Southern Coast (Calisur), the main grower and exporter of the crustacean in Cuba, plans to stockpile 1,400 tons (t) of the prized species this year.

Although very distant from the historical record of 2,652 tons, set in 2018, the plan far exceeds the low contribution of the past 2023, when the lack of feed to feed the animals affected them, said Edgardo Bueno Perez, head of production of the entity located in the community of El Mango, belonging to the municipality of Rio Cauto, in the eastern province of Granma.

We are starting 2024 in better conditions than the previous year, with three farms planted and part of the necessary feed, he explained optimistically.

In 2023, he added, we could only have feed to obtain 210 tons of shrimp, but we obtained another 90 tons thanks to extensive farming, which consists of reducing the population per area.

We also generated profits from productive diversification, including self-consumption, eel farming, production of hamburgers and croquettes, and tilapia farming for sale to the population, he continued.

Although the figure obtained in 2023 was the lowest in Calisur's history, it is comforting to see the great efficiency achieved; with which the UEB ranked as the best among the five entities of its kind in the country, said Mario Sariol Romero, national production director of the Shrimp Farming Company.

With around 100 ponds, 957.9 hectares of water surfaces and an industry capable of processing 12 tons of crustaceans per day, the Litoral Sur shrimp farm currently employs around 500 workers.