Expanded Canal, opportunity for the development of the agricultural sector

The expansion of the Panama Canal is an opportunity for other players of the national economy, such as agriculture and agro-industry, to enter the system and take advantage of the opportunities that this route will offer, say specialists in the field.
 
For many years, the regions close to the banks of the Canal have exploited the opportunities provided by the inter-oceanic path, however, experts say that it is time for these benefits to also reach the most remote provinces.
 
According to some studies, the benefits generated by the activities of service only reach 7% of the national territory, leaving 93% aside from this development, which is unsustainable.
 
Susana Pinilla, representative CAF Bank of Development of Latin America, said that we must think about areas which must not only be the Canal axis, but the whole of the national territory, such as the provinces, making that demand generated in the Canal produce service in other areas, as for example agriculture, tourism, ports as well as encourage the presence of more industries close to the Canal that generate more jobs and production.
 
Rubén Lachman, President of Intracorp, stressed that what we must understand is that there are a number of activities that interrelate and must also establish how a farmer can export his production through a port.
 
That is to say, that Panamanian farmers could take advantage of the opportunities of having an expanded Canal, forcing a major port infrastructure development, and be able to send their products to other markets.
 
Gerardo Escudero, representative of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation for Agriculture (IICA), indicated that the trend today is that in the coming years, the food lines in the world will be among the three most vibrant sectors of activities on the planet, and Panama does not have any justification, technical or scientific, to delay the agricultural sector in the country.
 
According to Escudero, three years of Government are left, for important decisions, and in his opinion, the agricultural sector is in a profound crisis, which will soon continue to give signals that could lead to destabilization in the country.
 
Escudero said that the sector is facing severe problems of profitability, difficulties in foreign markets, high unit cost of production, among others.
 
Apparently, agriculture is not prepared so far to take advantage of the expansion of the Panama Canal in the marketing of their products.
 
Faced with this reality, the driving forces of the Western region (Chiriquí, Bocas del Toro and Ngäbe-Buglé) drew up a master plan for recovery of the agricultural sector on which an in-depth study was carried out from the point of view of the demand of the markets and the supply.
 
The plan establishes an investment of 585 million dollars between the public and private sectors.
 
"We believe that this investment, by the fact that it intends to formalize markets and increase production and productivity, will lead to financial recovery of more than 40 million dollars per year," said Escudero.
 
He said that 500 million will be generated annually faced with the fall of the Panamanian agroindustrial exports which need to be stimulated because more than 45 countries have been penetrated with more than 50 Panamanian products".
 
Based on Comptroller´s General´s figures by the year 2015 exports fell 14.9% compared to 2014.
 
Meanwhile, in the first two months of this year figures continue to go down, by 8%.