Harvesting tilapia raised in cages on the lake. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI – Floating fish cages on La Juventud reservoir in Palacios town, Pinar del Rio province, stand as a testament to the Việt Nam – Cuba friendship as Vietnam's tilapia farming technology has transformed this region into a key aquacultural hub, contributing to the Caribbean nation’s food security.

In 2011, Vietnamese experts introduced the tilapia sex reversal technique to the basic business unit (UEB) of the La Juventud fish farm.

By administering male steroid to newly hatched fry, the rate of male fish – which grow faster and attain higher harvest body weight than females – has been raised to 98 per cent. This has become the core technique at intensive farming models.

UEB Director Pedro Antonio Gonzalez Graveran said it is the key to productivity breakthrough.

Challenges arose when the project was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in 2023, two pilot cages farming 16,000 fingerlings that weighed 25–50g each reaped an impressive result when tilapia reached an average weight of 860g in just 3–4 months. Some even weighed over 1kg.

Mercedes Dominguez, a veterinarian at the farm, said the growth of 8g per day had been previously a dream of Cuba's fisheries sector.

Vietnamese specialists adapted the technology to Cuban conditions, replacing modern aeration systems with floating cages that utilise natural water flows. Locally available feed such as corn and cassava by-products was used instead of costly imports. This has led to a rise in yields, from 4 tonnes per ha in 2011 to 13.3 tonnes per ha in 2023, while workers' monthly wage surged from US$13 in 2015 to $58 in 2023.

The ambition is to harvest 70–80 tonnes of fish for the commercial purpose in 2025, raising the project's total output to over 100 tonnes. It is expected that Cuba will able to master fry production and monosex tilapia farming technoligies by next year, when the project ends.

Cuban Deputy Minister of the Food Industry Miladys Naranjo hopes the project will be expanded nationwide, contributing to a $2 billion reduction in annual food import costs.

Meanwhile, Minister Alberto Lopez Diaz said Việt Nam has been assisting Cuba to develop highly-skilled aquaculture technicians.

Cuba has proved its aquaculture potential thanks to learning Việt Nam 's experience, he noted, adding that it pledges to turn this into a key sector to contribute to food security and export.

During a recent visit to the farm, Vietnamese Ambassador Lê Quang Long stressed that bilateral cooperation in aquaculture is a testament to the solidarity and knowlwedge sharing between the two countries, affirming Việt Nam 's readiness to stand side by side with Cuba in the new period. VNS