Image: Courtesy Revista Puerto

Aquaculture as a business

ARGENTINA
Wednesday, October 13, 2021, 06:30 (GMT + 9)

Newsan Food firm re-engages in aquaculture. Now he invested in an artisanal rainbow trout farming project. As with the mussel, it is a pilot test and the import substitution of salmon is one of the objectives, in addition to exporting.

Aquaculture in Argentina is stopped in time. The latest report from the Ministry of Production on aquaculture development in Argentina, exposes more or less the same productivity rates and problems as the last report from the Directorate of Aquaculture in 2012 when it was still directed by Laura Luccini.

This Argentine government, as everyone has done in the last twenty years, has taken up the aquaculture issue and activated some springs, but so far only one company has shown interest. In the last year, the Newsan company reactivated one of the many mussel projects that were stalled, financially and technically financing an artisan producer.

Photo: Revista Puerto

The investment was 200 million pesos, for a pilot development test; After the first cycle, the viability of the business will be evaluated and the extension or conclusion of the project will be decided. It has now just made a $ 22 million investment in an existing rainbow trout project to replace imports.

It is not the first time that a company in the fishing sector shows interest in aquaculture, makes a contribution, even processing plants have been built, but soon after the projects were abandoned.

The difference between Newsan Food and those fishing companies that took the first steps in the nineties and two thousand, is the conception of the business. This company is a business unit of a larger one, which entered the sector seeking import substitution and became one of the main exporters in a short time.

If they can extrapolate the success they had in fishing, the sustainable biological feasibilities enable them and it results in good business, perhaps they can become a paver for other producers.

“We are very happy to join the Salmon Trout project that is already underway and with an attractive development plan. Our idea is to work together with them, to combine our experience with their skills and technical knowledge. We are very optimistic about the complementarity between the two companies. It will be a gradual initiative, including initial phases considered pilot, in order to monitor the sustainability of the business and environmental issues ", said Miguel Glikman, director of Newsan Food.

The company aims for the next five years, in the initial phase, to reach a volume of 13,000 tons, and generate sales in the foreign and domestic market for 65 million dollars. The aquaculture development will be located in the Cuenca del Limay Reservoir, in the provinces of Neuquén and Rio Negro, in waters already certified by SENASA.

The process requires about 28 months divided into five stages: hatchery (5 months), aging (3 months), fattening (12 to 24 months), harvest and finally the production process in plants to generate valuable product aggregate for export markets. Then the viability of the business in both export and import substitution of Chilean salmon must be evaluated.

Rainbow trout has been cultivated there in an artisanal way for 35 years and is considered a "feral" species and fully incorporated into the ecosystem of the region. Therefore, in the feeding process, it is not necessary to resort to antiparasitics or antibiotics as occurs with salmon imported from Chile, but it is enough to respect a load density that has already established sustainability parameters.

“It is estimated that aquaculture will be the main source of supply of protein of animal origin by the year 2050, when the world's population will exceed 9 billion people. For us it is an opportunity to accompany the development of the activity with new investments; on this occasion promoting the expansion of the productive matrix ”, Glikman pointed out, adding that they will work with society,“ aiming at the development of artisan communities and actors ”, repeating the model applied with the mussel.

Source: Revista Puerto (article available only in spanish)

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