And while the cane farmers are quibbling about prices - in the shrimp industry, they wish they had it that good. That industry has been ravaged by a virus, and it has forced all farm owners to take a drastic step of draining their ponds and starting over. CEO Alpuche outlined the massive losses to the shrimp farming industry:...
Jose Alpuche, CEO Agriculture
"All farms have got to dry out. Basically stop production to clean out and then restart. The industry is taking the hard way around it, but it's the best way around it. To restock with new genetic material and that's the wisest decision they could have taken. It's taking a little time. Originally they thought that they would be able to restock by early next year. But it appears that we will have a few months delay in that industry."
Reporter
"In terms of jobs. I mean during these months people have had to be out of jobs and how many?"
Jose Alpuche, CEO Agriculture
"I don't know the exact numbers, but the farms have had to release in deed labors that would be when you have full production - because they are not in full production. But as far as I understand all the technical people, all the management have actually been kept on while they are in this process of restocking."
Reporter
"Do you have any indication of losses? Because there must be significant losses."
Jose Alpuche, CEO Agriculture
"We have not done an update, but the initial estimate would have been somewhere in the region of about 22 million dollars. But we expect that that may go up."
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