14ymedio, Havana, 25 March 2024 — The Poultry Company of Artemisa reported on Monday the death of 400 birds in the Ciro Redondo unit, due to the storm that hit the western provinces this weekend. The poor condition of the roofs, which were detached by the strong winds, caused water to enter the chicken coops and some of the birds to drown, the official press explained.
As the provincial authorities told El Artemiseño, “due to the heavy rains and the poor condition of the roofs, it was impossible to prevent some birds from getting wet.” The greatest damage is reported in the José Martí unit, where five warehouses have holes in the roofs, 500 zinc tiles were lost and “damage to the steel structures was reported.”
The greatest damage is reported in the José Martí unit, where five of the warehouses have holes in the roofs
“At the moment, the workers of the Artemiso poultry farm are in the recovery phase with the tiles that were blown inside and outside the perimeter of the units,” the media added.
Although the authorities did not offer data about the performance of the poultry industry in the province, the loss of several hundred birds cannot be good news for a company that, at the end of 2023, reported a decrease of 80 million eggs compared to the production of 2020, when they reached 185 million.
“We have 80 million fewer eggs, 50 million because we have fewer chickens and the rest because of low efficiency, since over 70% of the birds are in their second production cycle,” Luis Alberto Hernández Blanco, director of the company, told Cubadebate at the time.
Production was also affected, according to Hernández Blanco, in the months of July and August, when “the food consumption of birds almost reached zero and “the company fell from 62% of position to barely 16%.” “From 300,000 eggs a day we went to 17,000,” he said, and although the company managed to recover, it never attained the level it had before the crisis.
The Irregular deliveries of raw materials, the low quality of the chicken feed and the difficulties in the production of egg cartons are the worst problems that the industry faces, not only in Artemisa but also at the national level.
A credit of 4 million pesos granted by the provincial government last year demonstrates what the industry could achieve with the support of the State
A credit of 4 million pesos granted by the provincial government last year demonstrates what the industry could achieve with the support of the State: in a short time the units acquired better feed, which raised the positions by 70%, and the company sold almost 4 million cartons in the capital city alone. However, far from boosting national production, famous for its “depressed” and “decrepit” chickens, the Government decided to import eggs from Colombia.
After the negotiations began last July and the health certifications were approved in December, the Colombian Agricultural Institute sent the first batch of eggs to Cuba at the beginning of March: two containers, 40 feet each, with 17,280 boxes of 30 units – 518,400 eggs in total. The State has not pronounced on the purchase of this product, nor the price it will have in the Cuban market, where the eggs that arrive on the tables of Cubans are rationed in the bodegas (ration stores), five a month per person.
In the informal market, where inflation and hunger set the rules, a carton of 30 eggs costs 3,000 pesos, a figure well above the average monthly salary.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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