Rooted in the fidelist sap, like almost all good things between Cuban heaven and earth, the use of bioproducts in agriculture dates back to the 1990s, when they saw the light, at the hands of the Commander, four productive plants, located in the municipalities of Güira de Cabellera, Güines, Matanzas and Sancti Spíritus.
The story, told in close synthesis, is known by heart by the engineer Teobaldo Creu Méndez, chief investment specialist at the Higher Organization of Business Management (OSDE) Labiofam, who is in charge of conducting a work that it follows in the footsteps of those first plants, and will increase up to eight times, approximately, the country’s capacities for the manufacture of bioproducts.
It is an investment program that includes three industrial complexes, located in Havana, Vila Clara and Granma, production must cover almost all domestic demand for biofertilizers, biostimulants and biopesticides, behind ensuring greater phytosanitary protection for crops.
STORY OF A DELAYED PLANT
In the history of the Havana bioproduct plant, still under construction, more years are hanging than it should, crossed from head to toe by financial constraints and other problems, which have unfortunately become commonplaces for much of the investment process: delays, irregularities in planning, hiring …
Without prosecuting positions, it is worth summarizing in a couple of lines the development of the work, already at 88.1% industrial assembly and 99% completion of the civil structure.
As he explained to Granma Teobaldo Cruz, the Havana plant was born in the first decade of the 2000s, that is, in this period the conceptual and basic engineering was carried out, with the purpose of manufacturing products for bacterial control. : Bactivec and Griselesf.
However, a few years later, it is determined that this facility could take on the manufacture of bioproducts, in addition to producing biological control and Biorat, 1 rodenticide to eliminate rodents and pests.
This projection, very beneficial economically speaking, although perhaps late, began to be forged from 2012, when they began to have a stronger impact on the financial constraints on this project.
According to Creu Méndez, the plant went through several financiers, until in 2015 the investment was resumed. From then until now, they have also existed, in financial matters, high, low and very low.
However, beyond the tensions, the Havana plant lacks some subsystems and three fundamental systems for its completion: the general power plant, the waste treatment plant and the fire protection systems.
In the case of Vila Clara, the fermentation elements are 65%, while Granma’s work is a little behind.
To resolve the pending systems, said the director of Labiofam, contracts have been established with several Cuban companies, which means considerable savings.
“The total cost of the three plants is $ 50 million and the link with the domestic industry has saved between $ 6 million and $ 7 million,” he stressed.
Two examples are enough to illustrate the savings. The rice scale, which cost $ 80,000, when made in Cuba its cost is reduced to $ 26,000. In addition, it saves 60% of the materials initially designed for civil construction.
The rice washing system, on the other hand, was worth $ 886,000, meanwhile, the manufacturing price for Cuban companies is about half that amount.
To specify all these alternatives, said the main investment specialist of Labiofam, the Havana plant will be ready, with a minimum of conditions, for the last quarter of 2021, and Villa Clara, in the third quarter of 2022.
INCREASE AGRICULTURAL YIELD WITH NEW TECHNOLOGIES
More than a plant, the Havana facility is an industrial complex, capable of producing, in addition to Bactivec and Griselesf, about 12 assortments of biofertilizers and biopesticides, even the introduction of others is being studied. compatible with submerged fermentation technology.
Creu Méndez said that the Havana plant must reach a nominal capacity of 5,800,000 liters of fermented broth, equivalent to 3,800,000 liters of finished products. But production will be in line, among other things, with agricultural demands and vector campaigns.
He added that, in the specific case of bioproducts, the program, which not only includes the Havana industrial complex, but also includes the Vila Clara and Granma plants, could cover between one million and 1,500,000 hectares.
To this are added, in addition, the four existing facilities, immersed today in a rescue process based on two fundamental work premises: nominal capacity and industrial reliability, in the name of achieving higher levels of production and efficiency.
Today, the production of the four plants of Labiofam cover, according to Creu Méndez, about 26% of the total order of bioproducts.
With the entry into operation of the new facilities, it is expected, in addition to growing in the manufacture of biofertilizers and biopesticides, to produce about 1,080 tons of Biorat per year, which will meet external demand and export to countries in the area.
In the same way, the production of Biobras 16, 1 biostimulante for the crops is planned, that only in the rice can increase until 25% his performance. In both the industrial complex of Havana and Vila Clara, the figures must reach 220,000 liters per year.
The availability of these plants, in the words of Teobaldo Cruz Méndez, will, in the first place, free the country from a considerable volume of imports and project a gradual presence in the international market. In addition, it will guarantee the preparation of technological packages, depending on the crops and times of sowing and, above all, will be directed in the country towards an agriculture with a high ecological level.