The Minister of Agricultural Development, Augusto Valderrama, and the subregional coordinator for Mesoamerica of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Adoniram Sanches, agree to implement a project for the digital innovation of Panamanian agriculture, for the next 17 months.
This is the project called “Food crisis and digitization of agriculture: modernization of the MIDA in Panama”, which seeks to modernize and digitize the services of the MIDA, and other entities in the agricultural sector, thus contributing to strengthen the effectiveness of the mechanisms of economic recovery and resilience of the agri-food sector, in the post-pandemic and inflation context.
“This initiative represents an important preamble to the creation of an Agri-Food Hub in Panama discussed in April 2022, during the visit of the Director General of FAO, Qu Dongyu, with President Laurentino Cortizo Cohen, since access to agri-food information and statistics is fundamental for that purpose,” explained the FAO subregional coordinator for Mesoamerica, Adoniram Sanches Peraci
In this sense, Valderrama highlighted the importance of technological acceleration to obtain information in time, to guide producers in the use of soils, water conditions, climate changes and for the planting of the different products, which guarantee an efficient harvest.
Thanking the support provided by FAO in the process of digitization and modernization of all the activities carried out by the Panamanian agricultural sector, he stressed that this project will mark a before and after for the agricultural sector, as soon as this satellite and digital technology is implemented, at the service of all Panamanians.
He specified that this project will seek as a result that the institutionality of the consultation and decision-making tool.
Among the most relevant actions that will be carried out within the framework of the new FAO and MIDA project, a digitalized agricultural information management system for this ministry stands out, which articulates and takes into account the current public (IDIAP, IMA, Merca Panama, ISA, ARAP) and private (Chamber of Commerce, Financial Institutions and
The revision of the regulations of the Panama Insurance Institute (ISA) will also be carried out, and their integration into the information system of the MIDA and the Panamanian Financial System (Agropecuario Development Bank and the National Bank, mainly) focused on the coverage of contracts for the production of food for national food security.