A Cuban identified as Anay Negrin (@anay.negrin) went viral on TikTok by sharing her morning routine of collecting eggs in the countryside, in a video that garnered over 55,600 views and sparked a wave of comments from those who see in that everyday scene a true rarity in today's Cuba.
The clip, published last Sunday, lasts almost four minutes and shows the creator visiting various creole hen nests, collecting eggs one by one with evident satisfaction. "That's why they can criticize me, but the countryside is my life," she says at the beginning of the video, setting the tone for everything that follows.
"This is a blessing, my loves, a blessing that God gives us," Anay Negrin repeats as she moves among the nests. The woman also notes the urgency of collecting the eggs in time: "We have to collect them because if not, they break them themselves."
In addition to the chickens, the video shows plants growing in the field, among them what the creator identifies as possibly beets, reflecting a small and diversified agricultural production. "My passion is farming," she summarizes at the end of the tour.
The scene contrasts with the severe poultry crisis that Cuba is experiencing. In 2024, the Food and Poultry Business Group (Gealav) acknowledged that more than 1.3 million laying hens died due to a lack of food, bringing national production to historic lows.
In provinces like Pinar del Río, poultry production in 2025 barely reached 24% of the levels recorded in 2019, according to data from the state sector itself.
To try to meet domestic demand, Cuba imports an average of 16.5 million eggs per month from the Dominican Republic, Brazil, and the United States. Still, the product is scarce in the public market, and when it appears in stores, it does so in freely convertible currency (MLC) at prices that are unaffordable for most of the population.
In this context, egg production in Cuba hit historic lows in August 2025, exacerbating a food situation that was already critical for millions of Cuban families.
The raising of native chickens in backyards and family farms —as documented by Anay Negrin— has become one of the few ways to access fresh eggs without relying on the state distribution network. These birds are fed with local resources such as sugarcane, cassava, and corn, which reduces dependence on imported feed that the state cannot guarantee.
It is not the first time that Anay Negrin has generated attention with her rural content. In October 2025, she went viral with a video about the artisanal roasting of coffee over coals in the countryside, which sparked a debate over the very dark appearance of the beans.
His new video has garnered 2,682 likes and 359 comments, from an audience that sees in that early morning routine—collecting eggs from free-range hens before they break them themselves—not just a personal passion, but a means of survival that many Cubans would like to have.
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