Puneaple agribusiness

DEVELOPMENT OF AN AGRIBUSINESS IN PINEAPPLE

I. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 1. The agricultural production of Panama is characterized for two types of cultivations: • Traditional agriculturalCultivations: Rice, corn, coffee, banana, bean, sorghum and sugarcane, among others. • Non-traditional agricultural Cultivations: Tomato, vegetables and fruitbearing. Of these cultivations stands out theproduction of fruits for export, such as: banana, melon, watermelon and pineapple; of which the major volume of exports are banana, sugarcane, coffee and cocoa; and they represent around the 50% ofnon-traditional exports. The main destination markets to which this production is delivered are United States of America, Canada, Holland, and even countries of Asia as Japan. 2. The cultivation area ofpineapple is concentrated in the provinces of Chiriqui and Panama (district of Capira and Chepo) of the Republic of Panama. Approximately 167 producers are dedicated to this production. 3. In recent years,the Cayena Lisa MD-2 variety went expanding, and at the present occupies the largest area of cultivation. This occurs due to the opening of the international market, and to its preference for thisvariety. The fruit production is intended for the export market, being United States and Europe the main target markets. 4. The enterprises, that export pineapple, are companies that have the facilitiesand logistics required by the international market (i.e. packaging plants, transportation, and cold chain, among other aspects of the value generation chain). Nevertheless, there exist areas that donot have proper infrastructure, such as packaging plants, which limit the access to the export market, so they are obliged to offer their production to established companies, and because of thissituation, they don not obtain the corresponding incomes due to the low sale price paid for their production. II. SUPPORT The Central American Data Company has been contacted by a Canadian company...