The year 2011 was a bad year for rice farmers in Panama. Mill owners paid lower prices and higher oil prices made raw materials significantly more expensive, which resulted in serious disadvantages for rice producers despite their efforts to increase efficiency.
The amount paid by rice millers to producers for a quintal of wet and dirty grain went from $16 to $19.50 dollars, whereas last year they offered up to $24 to process it, explained an article on laestrella.com.pa web. On the other hand, the price of oil caused the value of agricultural inputs to go up by 25%, raising the cost of producing a hectare of irrigated rice to $2.200 and an acre of upland rice to $2.000.
Hector Ortega, a rice farmer in the Tonosí region, province of Los Santos, believes that because of the increased production costs, rice needs to be sold at a minimum of $23 per quintal in order to receive any sort of profit margin. "Unlike in previous years, the efficiency of some producers has increased, but they have not been repaid for their efforts", said Ortega, who hopes that the situation will improve.
Source: laestrella.com.pa
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