Starving Panamanians an obscenity Minister

Panama has such a booming economy that is obscene that there are Panamanian’s starving, says the Minister of Agricultural Development Jorge Arango Arias, who participated in the thirty-ninth Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome.

He said Panama’s government was “absolutely dismantled in the past administration,” and is struggling to cope with the fallout because half the time is devoted to “denouncing  cases” to the corruption prosecutors.

But as it recovers from the crisis , Arango expects the agriculural sector to “double food production” in the next five years through the use of technology.
Panama was recognized by the FAO for reducing its hunger population from 26.4% to 9.5%. While Arango believes the effort that has been made is positive, it is far from meeting the country’s needs. “Panama has such a booming economy that is obscene that there Panamanian starving,” he said

“In the past 40 years the export of agricultural products has decreased by 50 % and Panama has a very rudimentary agricultural economy, lacking technology and innovation
“Only 2% or 3% of the 400 000 agricultural entrepreneurs are highly technical and this causes deficit and makes our products uncompetitive in the market.
”Wrong agricultural policies implemented in recent years have neglected the rural economy benefiting only the services sector.
In the 1980s, Panama was an exporter of rice, but now is forced to import. 75,000 hectares previously cultivated have dropped to 25,000. reports La Prensa.
“In the last 11 months we have made inventory and have devised a recovery plan for lost lands.
“Furthermore, we are trying to restore confidence of the producers, whp in the past were forced into abandoning their land.” Says Arango