With roots in the fidelista juice, like almost everything good between Cuban heaven and earth, the use of organic products in agriculture dates back to the 90s of the last century, when four production plants, located on the basis of the commander, saw the light in the municipalities of Güira de Melena, Güines, Matanzas and Sancti Spíritus.
The story, told in a tight synthesis, is known by heart by the engineer Teobaldo Cruz Méndez, chief investment specialist of the Higher Organization of Business Management (OSDE) Labiofam, responsible for executing a project that follows in the footsteps of those first factories, and the country’s capacity for the production of organic products will increase about eight times.
It is an investment program comprising three industrial complexes, located in Havana, Villa Clara and Granma, the production of which should cover almost all of the internal demand for biofertilizers, biostimulants and biopesticides to ensure better phytosanitary protection of the crops.
HISTORY OF A DELAYED INSTALLATION
The history of the Havana organic products factory, still in the construction phase, has been overlooked for more years than it should be, traversed from start to finish by financial constraints and other problems, unfortunately turned into common places of much of the investment processes : delays, irregularities in planning, recruitment …
Without judgmental attitudes, it is worth summarizing in a few lines the evolution of the work, with 88.1% of the industrial assembly and 99% of the completion of the civil structure.
According to what Teobaldo Cruz told Granma, the Havana factory was born in the first decade of the 2000s, that is, during that period the conceptual and basic engineering was carried out with the aim of producing products for bacterial control: Bactivec and Griselesf .
However, a few years later, it is determined that this facility could take on the production of bioproducts, in addition to the production of biological control and Biorat, a rodenticide to eliminate rodents and pests.
This projection, which is very favorable economically, although perhaps late, started to take shape from 2012, a phase when financial constraints began to more strongly influence this project.
According to Cruz Méndez, the plant went through various funders until the investment was resumed in 2015. Since then they have also existed, in financial matters, highs, lows and very lows.
However, in addition to the voltages, the Havana plant lacks some subsystems and three basic systems for its completion: the general power distribution plant, the waste disposal plant, and the fire fighting systems.
In the case of Villa Clara, the fermentation elements are 65%, while Granma’s work lags a bit more.
To resolve the pending systems, according to the Labiofam director, contracts have been signed with several Cuban companies, resulting in significant savings.
“The total cost of the three plants is $ 50 million and the link with the national industry has enabled savings of between $ 6 and 7 million,” he emphasized.
Two examples are sufficient to illustrate the savings. The rice bowl, which cost $ 80,000, is reduced to $ 26,000 in Cuba. In addition, it saves 60% of the materials originally intended for civil construction.
The rice washing system, on the other hand, was worth $ 886,000, while the manufacturing price by Cuban companies is equal to about half that amount.
If all of these alternatives become reality, Labiofam’s chief investment specialist noted, the Havana plant will be ready, with minimum conditions, for the last quarter of 2021 and Villa Clara in the third quarter of 2022.
INCREASE AGRICULTURAL YIELD WITH NEW TECHNOLOGIES
The Havana facility is more than a factory, it is an industrial complex capable of producing, in addition to Bactivec and Griselesf, approximately 12 ranges of bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides, including the introduction of others compatible with submerged fermentation technology.
Cruz Méndez assured that the Havana plant should reach a nominal capacity of 5,800,000 liters of fermented broth, which is equivalent to 3,800,000 liters of finished products. But production will be in line with agricultural demands and anti-vector campaigns, among other things.
He added that, in the specific case of bioproducts, the program, which includes not only the Havana industrial complex, but also the Villa Clara and Granma factories, could cover between one million and 1.5 million hectares.
In addition, the four existing facilities are added, today immersed in a rescue process based on two fundamental work premises: nominal capacity and industrial reliability, in order to achieve higher production and efficiency.
According to Cruz Méndez, the production of the four Labiofam factories accounts for about 26% of the total order of organic products.
With the start-up of the new facilities, it is expected that, in addition to the growth in the production of biofertilizers and biopesticides, approximately 1,080 tons of Biorat per year will be produced, meeting external demand and exporting to countries in the surrounding area.
Likewise, the production of Biobras 16, a crop biostimulant, which can increase yields by up to 25% in rice alone, is planned. In both the industrial complex of Havana and that of Villa Clara, the figures must be 220,000 liters per year.
The availability of these factories will, in the words of Teobaldo Cruz Méndez, first of all liberate the country from a significant volume of imports and predict a gradual presence in the international market. In addition, it will guarantee the preparation of technological packages depending on the crops and the sowing times, and above all, it will lead the land to a agriculture with a high ecological level.