A shortage of eggs in Villa Clara due to a change in the diet of the chickens

Villa Clara, in central Cuba, is facing a poultry crisis due to a change in the composition of chicken feed.

The director of the poultry company in Villa Clara, Lazara Montes de Oca, publicly admitted that the egg quota could not be guaranteed in March due to major problems in the daily production of birds. This setback is attributed to a change in the bird feed formula.

according to to explain Montes de Oca By journalist Abel Falcon for local station CMHW, poultry production began to decline in February, when it was replaced by corn, a staple in the birds' diet.

Change in chicken feed composition causes poultry crisis in Villa Clara.

As a result, egg consumption in March cannot be guaranteed. The chicken was given a rice-based formula, but the original formula has now been restored to 100%, the official said.

However, the recovery in production will not be immediate. It will take a period of 30 to 60 days for the hens to return to normal on their natural diet.

Montes de Oca added that this also depends on the age of the birds, as more than 70% of the company’s birds are in their second or third production cycle.

Meanwhile, the few eggs that are produced are for social consumption, including sectors such as health, education, medical diets and PAMI.

However, in Santa Clara, egg prices are exorbitant. Montes de Oca was categorical in saying that the company does not sell eggs to FGNEs, but he did not rule out some diversion. “Some products may have been diverted from us, but they are not sold to any MSMEs,” he stressed.

Cuban SMEs buy and resell eggs

Despite this, SMEs can buy eggs abroad, for example, in Colombia, and then resell them in Cuba at “exorbitant prices,” the state media report condemned.

This situation has sparked criticism among residents of the province, who question the logic of innovation in bird feeding in such complex times, and wonder where the cartons of eggs seen daily in Rivolico come from at increasingly high prices.

“From one justification to another… What if the peas freeze, what if the pumpkin flour, what if you feed the chickens, what if lemons, what if alligator or ostrich meat… well, that's the story of a good pipe,” he wrote. Omar Vega Rodriguez.