The Minister of Agricultural Development, Augusto Valderrama, and the subregional coordinator for Mesoamerica of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Adoniram Sanches, signed the project called “Food crisis and digitalization of agriculture: modernization of MIDA in Panama”.
This project seeks to help public institutions of Panamanian agriculture adopt and implement digital innovation mechanisms, to accelerate the response to the food crisis.
This initiative, scheduled to be implemented in the next 17 months, seeks to modernize and digitize the services of MIDA, and other entities in the agricultural sector, thus helping to strengthen the effectiveness of the mechanisms for economic recovery and resilience of the agri-food sector, in the post pandemic and inflation.
Specifically, this project will seek as a result that the institutional framework of the sector has a modern and robust information system, which allows efficient and coordinated management of response and recovery plans and programs, and that contributes to the availability of quality information and updated, as a consultation and decision-making tool.
“This initiative represents an important preamble to the creation of an Agrifood Hub in Panama discussed in April 2022, during the visit of the Director General of FAO, Qu Dongyu, with Mr. President Laurentino Cortizo Cohen, since access to information and statistics agri-food is essential for this purpose”, explained the FAO Subregional Coordinator for Mesoamerica, Adoniram Sanches Peraci.
Among the most relevant actions to 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 sector platforms (IDIAP, IMA, Merca Panama, ISA, ARAP), and private (Chamber of Commerce, Financial Institutions and Stock Exchange).
Likewise, the revision of the regulations of the Insurance Institute of Panama (ISA) will be carried out, and its integration into the information system of the MIDA and the Panamanian Financial System (Agricultural Development Bank and the National Bank, mainly) focused on the coverage of contracts for food production for national food security.
Additionally, the project proposes, for MIDA and IDIAP, a computerized registry system for Panamanian farmers, articulated with a national rural extension system (public and private); with the digital platform for offering services, with special attention to family and indigenous agriculture in the Comarcas.
For the implementation of these and other actions, in addition to the participation of the Ministry of Agricultural Development and other institutions in this sector, coordination will be carried out with the National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation, the National Authority for Government Innovation and the Ministry of Commerce and Industries.
