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Mussel producers have improved productivity thanks to assistance provided by Cetmis
CHILE
Tuesday, April 07, 2020, 05:00 (GMT + 9)
Technology transfer center financed by Corfo and executed by Fundación Chinquihue has increased the income of the intervened growers.
The numbers do not lie: the annual income of chilote growers served by the Centro de Extensionismo Tecnológico para una Mitilicultura Sustentable, Cetmis, a support program for rill farming that is financed by Corfo, increased by 23.6 percent annual average. under the eaves of the Chinquihue Foundation, and which covers a total of 13 communes in 3 provinces of the Los Lagos Region.
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Photo: Cetmis
The total number of people served in the province of Chiloé during the 3 years of development of this project amounts to 123 beneficiaries, who through the assistance of Cetmis had results such as: a decrease in time in their production cycles of 2 years in many cases, to an annual cycle, and a decrease in their rejection rates of the product entered into the processing plants -who are its main buyers-, from over 20% of rejection to less than 10%. All of this ultimately translates into tangible benefits, a substantial increase in net income by Chilote producers.
To better organize the work carried out by Cetmis, the island was divided between Chiloé Norte and Chiloé Sur. The communes of Ancud, Castro, Dalcahue, Quemchi and Quinchao are integrated into the first geographical subdivision. In the case of Chiloé Sur, the communes of Chonchi, Puqueldón, Queilen and Quellón were considered. In the case of Chiloé Norte, production went from producing 640 thousand kilos per year to 687 thousand. In Chiloé Sur, meanwhile, it went from 362 thousand kilos per year to 449 thousand.
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Photo: Cetmis
The way of working included a series of services, which were provided to the beneficiaries completely free of charge. Among the services provided are some related to improving the quality of mussel seeds, fattening technical assistance plans, technical assistance plans for seedbeds, as well as technological improvement plans.
Beneficiaries
Eduardo Mondaca is a grower whose cultivation center is located in the Yal canal, Lincay sector, in the Puqueldón commune. Dedicated to this productive activity more than three decades ago, Mondaca has an annual production of close to 280 tons of choritos. With two hectares of cultivation, it explains that most of its production is exported to Europe.
In the intervention carried out by the Cetmis team, they were advised to decrease the density of choritos in their cultivation. "They made me see that it was necessary to thin and I did so, and logically that increased production and quality," he says. This year, he says, he had a better product. "The price paid is better and acceptance by buyers is much better," he said.
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Photo: Cetmis
"This is because many of our small producers underestimate the importance of optimal management in the planting phase. Cetmis, with proper advice, has substantially improved this stage of cultivation, "says Luis Oliva, manager of Cetmis.
Víctor Mancilla is also engaged in the production of Chilean mussels. He has been in this activity for about 8 years and has a cultivation of five hectares, which is located in the Calen sector, Dalcahue commune. Its annual production is close to 400 tons. This program implemented a technological improvement plan with him and provided technical assistance to improve the quality of the seed with which he works, the first link in the production of mussels.
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Photo: Cetmis
With around two years working with Cetmis, Mancilla assures that "it has been super good for us because they have made us a training program, which has been very important for the work that we do". One of the courses he attended presented content related to performing outboard motor maintenance, an implement he uses on his boat. "We are doing them ourselves," he says, alluding to the learning acquired.
He has also been repairing some plastic buoys that are in poor condition, a key resource for trickle production. "I bought a machine and we've been reusing the buoys that were broken," he says. He learned to do it in the framework of a workshop offered by Cetmis.
The latter has an impact on your pocket, because it saves money because you do not need to buy new buoys, but there is also an impact on the environment, since a product that would otherwise end up in the garbage is reused. In his opinion, all these courses have allowed him to improve the quality of his product.
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Photo: Cetmis
The Cetmis manager explains that “the way we work contemplates the performance of a diagnosis, after which a plan is designed with the Cetmis team of professionals, in which productive and economic goals are defined. Consequently, indicators are defined to measure the success of the intervention in terms of technological adoption and productivity ”.
In the total universe of people served, 86% of Cetmis beneficiaries correspond to micro-companies, while 12% are small. This is the majority group of producers with which Cetmis has been working to reduce gaps in this productive activity, which is 99% developed in the Los Lagos Region and which generates around 17 thousand jobs.
Oliva specified that "we are currently the only institution for technical assistance and technological dissemination for small chorito growers, whose main value is the delivery of timely and appropriate information and advice to the gaps and needs that appear year after year in the sector" .
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