Every year, José Martinez and Joël Lopez, two Cuban entrepreneurs, use aquaponics to produce 12 tons of tilapia to sell on an island that paradoxically lacks fresh fish.
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“We have two species here at the moment: the red tilapia, which is the most attractive to the consumer, and the black tilapia,” explains José Martinez to AFP, throwing a few handfuls of food ration to the young fish in a pond.
AFP
Thanks to a government loan and their savings, the entrepreneurs, two 35-year-old lawyers, started their private project two years ago in Barbosa, on the outskirts of Havana.
They built twelve ponds on the wasteland in which they bred fish, which they sold directly to the population. At the same time, they plan to ultimately produce 36 tons of vegetables.
AFP
Aquaponics technology closely combines fish farming with plant cultivation. In a closed system, the waste produced by the fish is used by the plants as nutrients, which in turn keep the water healthy for the fish.
Tilapia reach a weight of 400 grams in six months, compared to twice the time for fish raised in traditional, extensive fish farming without additional feed.
AFP
For the two entrepreneurs, aquaponics is a quick way to expand the fish supply on the island of 11 million people, which is in the worst economic crisis in 30 years, with food, medicine and fuel shortages.
“Our idea is to try to spread this knowledge (…) to everyone who wants to farm fish, because aquaponics production is a viable and sustainable solution,” argues Joël Lopez.
Fishing fleet
Due to the natural conditions of the Caribbean island and the consequences of previous overfishing, Cuba only has a catch potential of 12,000 tons per year.
AFP
But “in the last three years” the island has not even reached this figure due to the lack of “engines” and “fuel” for the boats, the Minister of Food Industry, Manuel Sobrino, recently admitted.
Not to mention that in order to get the foreign currency it sorely lacks, the country prefers to export its seafood products, which, according to official figures, brought in $54 million in 2022.
AFP
Before the crisis of the 1990s due to the end of Soviet subsidies, Cuba had a fleet that operated in international waters and caught 100,000 tons of fish each year, which Cubans could buy at subsidized prices.
At the beginning of the 2000s, this fleet disappeared and Cuba was forced to import fish and develop freshwater fish farming, which was the only way for the country to increase “fish consumption per capita,” the minister recalled.
AFP
Given the difficulties in importing food for fish feeding due to a lack of foreign exchange, Cuban fish farming has recently had to return to large-scale production, which has had a negative impact on production.
According to official data, production of African catfish, for example, fell from 6,200 to 1,300 tons between 2018 and 2022. As has the communist island’s agricultural production, which has also declined sharply in recent years.
AFP
In July, Deputy Prime Minister Jorge Luis Tapia suggested Cubans return to family fish farming in the backyards of their homes, a practice that had become widespread during the 1990s crisis but this time provoked skeptical reactions.
AFP
In recent months, small private companies have begun marketing fish by working with independent fishermen, but high prices prevent the vast majority of Cubans from having access.
For Joël Lopez and José Martinez, who are also working on the launch of a small processing unit, the aquaponics experience is a success and “must be multiplied”.
AFP