In Ecuador, power outages threaten ice cream businesses in the small town of Salcedo in the country’s central highlands.
Ice cream production in Salcedo began in the middle of the 1900s. Women working in a Roman Catholic religious center there would make a fruit drink with milk from the area's dairy farms. One of the female religious workers, called nuns, began collecting the unused drink mixture. She turned it into creamy popsicles, frozen treats that quickly became popular.
The nuns sold the popsicles in town to gather money for the poor. But the people of Salcedo saw a business opportunity and began trying new flavors and methods. Soon ice cream lovers came to support the industry in the town.
However, a recent wave of power outages is threatening Salcedo's ice-cream industry. The daily loss of electrical power, began earlier this year. Each outage can last up to 14 hours. The problem is a long period without rain. Ecuador gets much of its power from hydroelectric centers which depend on lakes and rainwater.
Gabriel Pumasunta is part owner, with his two brothers, of the Polar Bear ice-cream factory. He said that if the power outages continue this month, they will have to shut down the factory. Pumasunta said that much of his product has melted because of power outages.
Before September, Polar Bear was producing 60,000 popsicles per month. Now, the small company makes 10,000 popsicles per month. The business has been forced to let go of eight of its 10 employees. Pumasunta is spending the company's savings and those of his family. He now works on the plant's machines himself. His parents are helping to run the factory.
Severe business losses from power outages
Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa has not been able to solve the electricity crisis. The chamber of commerce in Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, estimates that power outages are creating weekly losses of $700 million for Ecuadorian businesses.
Germán Soria is president of the association of artisanal ice-cream makers. He said that before the power crisis, Salcedo had 80 small- and medium-sized ice-cream makers and three large factories. Now, 30 of these smaller businesses have had to close. Even the large factories are slowing production.
Soria's own ice-cream business is no longer operating. He said he stopped production three weeks ago and had to sell some equipment, as well as some land to pay his debts.
He said that the outages happen at unexpected times. That means buyers, like small stores, are unwilling to purchase ice cream because they are unsure whether it will melt.
Local officials say the power crisis has cost 300 jobs in Salcedo. The town is known for its fruit-flavored ice-cream, including flavors such as blackberries and taxo, a kind of tropical fruit.
New sources of power
The Ecuadorian government has bought some large electric generators that run on oil or gas. But as Marco Acuña, the president of Ecuador's national guild of engineers, said: "They do not have the capacity to make up for the current deficit."
In Salcedo, the collapse of the ice-cream industry has hurt the local economy. Dairy farms, fruit growers, transporters and small stores that sell popsicles all feel the effects.
"Before (the power cuts) we would buy up to 150 popsicles a day," said Maria Juliette López, who owns a small store on the Panamerican highway where tourists and truck drivers stop to buy snacks. "Now we can only take up to 40 popsicles a day, because any product that is left over will melt,” she said.
I’m Jill Robbins.
Gonzalo Solano reported this story for the Associated Press. Jill Robbins adapted it for Learning English.
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Words in This Story
treat – n. something that tastes good and that is not eaten often
flavor – n. the quality of something that you can taste
artisanal – adj. made by a person who is skilled at making things by hand
generator – n. a machine that makes electricity by burning gas or oil
capacity – n. the ability to do something
tourist – n. a person who travels to a place for pleasure
snack – n. a small amount of food eaten between meals
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