Aquaculture doubled its production in the last three years and thus became one of the productive sectors with the greatest potential in the country, based on a joint effort between the Ministry of Agriculture and companies, which it generated investments for more than US$ 25 million and announcements for US$ 70 million in projects for the development of this activity in eight provinces.
According to the numbers of the Agriculture portfolio, aquaculture It went from producing 2,100 tons in 2019, to a production of 3,833.7 tons in 2021 and a projection of 5,170 tons for the current year.
Also, registered a jump in the export of 154 to 1,500 tons during the last year.
The projects are located in the provinces of Chaco, Corrientes; Entre Ríos, Misiones, Neuquén, Tucumán, Río Negro and Tierra del Fuego.
The planted species are pacú, rainbow and pansai trout, tilapia, surubí, boga and mussels.
For 2024 and 2025, the projections account for volumes greater than 25,000 tonswhich makes this activity one of those with the greatest potential.
“In the world, more than half of the proteins consumed by human beings come from aquaculture, and our country could not be left behind in its design, implementation and development,” he explained to Télam the Undersecretary of Fisheries, Carlos Liberman.
The official stated that “Today there are more than 10 projects underway throughout the country that we are financing with the promotion regime, and we will soon have the complete map of productions with sustainable design.”
For your partthe national director of Aquaculture, Guillermo Abdala, stressed that “there are prestigious companies with national and international capital with the ability to create value and produce thousands of tons in the country, produced entirely in each of the aquaculture regions such as Patagonia, the Northwest, and the central region that is being strongly promoted in this last quarter”.
Abdala, in dialogue with Télam, pointed out that “simultaneously there are more than 50 aquaculture projects throughout the territory that promote breeding and reproduction for consumption, many of them promoted by local communities in the hands of municipalities and organizations that are committed to generating production conditions oriented to the circular economy”.
One of the main companies in this sector is Newsan Food, and its director Martín Koltan told Télam that they are “working on a mussel farming project in Tierra del Fuego together with another for rainbow trout in the Limay basin (Nequén and Río Black)”.
He specified that “The mussel project is in its infancy, but the Limay project is going to reach 300 tons this yearto be destined both for the domestic market and for export”.
He explained that “The rainbow trout project foresees, starting with investments of US$ 22 millionreach a volume of 10,000 tons”.
Another important player in this sector is Pesquera San Isidro, whose executive director, Damián Santos, explained to this agency that the company has been working “for a year and a half on the Truchas Alicurá project.” in the province of Neuquen.
“In the first season we planted 1.7 million fingerlings with a harvest projection of 450 tons,” Santos said, noting that this project develops the planting of “pansai trout, which is selling well in the domestic market, because It contains antibiotics and is raised in a natural environment.
He specified that “for this year we have a projection of sowing two million fingerlings, and thus we would go to almost 700 tons”, and remarked that “the pansai trout has a great export projection, mainly to the United States. The idea is reach a production of 1,500 tons”.
Further north, in the town of La Leonesa, in Chaco, is the Pacú Teko enterprise, whose owner, Eduardo Meichtry, explained to Télam that it arose from applying a rotation scheme with rice production that he has been carrying out for 40 years.
He indicated that the production was carried outto “over 850 hectares from which between 600 and 800 tons of pacú are obtained, that are processed in a company refrigerator, from which 12 different products come out, ranging from steaks to medallions, hamburgers, ribs and tenderloin”.
“Although exporting is an explored objective and it is perfectly feasible to do so, both in neighboring countries, Bolivia and Paraguay, as well as in the United Arab Emirates and Israel, because the products qualify as Halal and Kosher, there is still no production to do so. But our project is to grow and move forward, together with other stakeholders, in an export project,” Meichtry said.
Also in the province of Neuquén is Idris Patagonia, dedicated to trout farming, and its director Lucas Maglio specified to this agency that “Exports began last year sending more than 100 tons to Chile, which were later reprocessed to finally send to Japan and the United States”.
“This year the harvests have already started and in the first stage 500 tons were exported already processed in our plant in Piedra del Aguila, also as final destination Japan and the United States,” added Maglio.
He affirmed that “the plans are for constant growth, and it is expected that this year the harvest will reach 1,500 tons, passing to almost 4,000 by 2023 and doubling that amount by 2024”, and highlighted that “the planned investment amounts to to more than US$70 million until 2025, when we expect to harvest close to 12,000 tons”.
