The Avícola de Holguín Company (Avihol) would have made the decision to sacrifice at least 54,000 laying hens due to the inability to feed them.
"They are being sacrificed because, according to the management of the Avícola de la provincia (Avihol) company, there is no food in Holguín," a worker affiliated with the company told the portal 14ymedio, on condition of anonymity.
The source noted that the slaughter started several weeks ago but had to be suspended when the production line of the slaughterhouse, located in San Rafael Adentro, at kilometre 5.5 on the road to Mayarí, broke. However, the damaged parts have already been replaced, and the plan has been resumed.
The most serious thing is that "there is no replacement, that is, they are sacrificing them without having the spare chicken," the source noted.
The evolution of Avihol has been like that of many other state-owned companies in Cuba, falling into disgrace after going through periods of relative splendor.
In the specific case of this company, in just four years it has gone from having around 426,000 daily eggs and 152.6 million annual egg-layings to the slaughter of birds due to lack of food.
The company not only exceeded egg production and supplied the province but also provided service to Santiago de Cuba and Las Tunas, earning praise from former First Vice President José Ramón Machado Ventura in February 2020," 14yMedio pointed out.
The aforementioned source also revealed that in May 2023, Jorge Romero, the company's director, acknowledged that the crisis with animal feed required urgent measures.
The current financial situation does not allow for acquiring resources for the maintenance of the conditions that the ships need, and this has led to the deterioration of many units, which negatively impacts the production of this sector," he said at the time.
Last year, egg production in Cuba decreased by 50% compared to 2019, when the island had twice as many laying hens.
The official press has admitted that the decrease is mainly due to the lack of funding for the purchase of animal feed.
In the midst of the egg production crisis in Cuba, the island's government has turned to Colombia.
The South American nation estimates that it will export 40 million eggs to Cuba this year, of which 7 million have already arrived in order to support the depressed national production.
At the end of 2024, the Minister of Agriculture, Ydael Pérez Brito, reported that egg production in Cuba has decreased from five million daily in 2020 to 2.2 million in 2023.
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