This was the main finding of a study conducted by IICA, the Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Cooperation. According to the report, the country does not take advantage of its favorable climate and soil composition for growing tropical fruits.
Francisco Antúnez, from the Union of Non Traditional Agri-exporters, remarks that "...lack of market security withholds growers from trying different crops", reported Prensa.com. "To solve this, Panama's Agricultural Research Institute (Idiap) is working on adopting new genetic material to increase tropical fruit production".
Source: Prensa.com
More on this topic
October 2011
The project will support the standardization of methods to collate prices for fruits and other trading variables, with the aim of improving market intelligence in Central America.
A press release by American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture reads:
Central America, Panama, Belize and the Dominican Republic will share, on a regional platform, information emanating from the markets regarding its tropical fruits, in order to increase the competitiveness of the productive sector and identify export opportunities for agribusiness.
January 2010
The economic crisis is forcing North American tropical fruit suppliers to lower prices.
Suppliers of wintertime produce from Central America and the Caribbean are finding that in the economic downturn they have to lower prices in order to keep customers.
Larry Leighton, president of Caribbean Fruit Connection Corp., Miami, said an added business challenge arises for suppliers intent on providing high quality, pricier products to customers who are willing to sacrifice quality for price.
October 2009
Exports to the U.S., top buyer, have shown signs of improvement, with increases from 13% to 30%.
The most sought for exotic fruits in the U.S. market are nance, cauliflower, mango, myrtle, cashew, mamey and sapote.
"A chain of local growers sell their production to seven exporting companies. Among them are Río Grande and Tropix", reported Elsalvador.com.
February 2010
The first shipment of domestic mango will be harvested in April 2011, and will be exported to England.
In Panama there are 118 hectares sown with export-quality mango. They are a genetic variation of a Peruvian seed.
“Panama sees this fruit as an opportunity to diversify its traditional export portfolio”, reported Prensa.com.
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