Antioquia fish farmers to open doors to biotechnology

Abstract

Dora Ancely López Morales’ house is located in El Jordán, a small district in the municipality of San Carlos, or, as it is known in the area, the sweet little coast of East Antioquia, due to its rivers and streams. It is a small dwelling where she lives with her son and her husband. Her family, like most families in San Carlos, is dedicated to cultivating the land and caring for animals, including fish. At the end of the corridor that leads to her backyard, there is a pilot reactor that is constantly stirring. The questions are: what is a reactor and what is it doing there?

The Center for Studies and Research in Biotechnology –Cibiot– of the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellín main campus, installed the reactor there in 2019 intending to cultivateSpirulina, a type of microalgae that contains a high percentage of protein, to use it as a supply for pienso (animal feed) or concentrate with which the fish grown in that area are fed. The house of Dora López, a community leader, is the headquarters of the first plant for the production of microalgae, with which it is expected to reduce food costs by 30%. This results in the improvement of the processes and the competitiveness of the people of San Carlos in the fish farming sector.