QUICK TAKES

Exotic Fruits:
One of Panama´s Top Non-Traditional Exports

By Juan Carlos Martinez

Panama is like a huge tropical garden where you can easily pick the makings of an exotic, fresh and sweet fruit salad.  Yes, a fruit salad. Just walk out of your condo into the street and you will meet on every corner little carts selling a small assortment of tropical fruit. Generally pineapple, papaya, mango, melon, sometimes oranges and watermelons.  These fruits are a staple in Panama during the summer months and some of them are harvested throughout the year.

These fruits are now moving into the big leagues and their producers are making a play for the export market.  In a small measure these fruits have always been exported but now producers are trying to cover more markets and to increase the production of these products so that they constitute a significant volume of export.  In terms of the pineapple production Panama has long been planting pineapples and has now reached its goal it is the second pineapple producing country in the region after Costa Rica.  It has taken Panama ten years of study and duplicating Costa Rica´s methods to reach this spot.  It is still far behind in Costa Rica in terms of production as it only has 3 thousand hectares of pineapple plantations versus Costa Rica´s 42 thousand hectares.  It is important to note that Costa Rica boasts DOLE pineapple plantations while in Panama pineapple producers are independent growers. Most of the planting in Panama is done in Chorrera where 1,500 hectares of pineapple are located and then in Chiriqui.  The MD2 variety is the type that is planted for export for the markets of the US and Europe.  

Another common place fruit in Panama is also gearing up for export.  The papaya is being processed into pulp to be exported into Holland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.  The first containers headed for northern Europe are scheduled to leave in September of this year.  The papaya in its natural state has been exported previously but this time it is being exported in processed from in a packaging that will allow the pulp to be stored without refrigeration for 2 years.  This is a really novel method that won an innovation prize from Panama´s Secretary´s Office for Science, Innovation and Technology who will be supplying part of the capital for setting up the processing plant in the region of Azuero.  The rest of the capital will be put up by the company Frutastropicales Anabela S.A. The company plans to process for export approximately 17 thousand 500 kilos of pulp per week, one 40 foot container valued at USD40,000 dollars.  The next step for this company is to duplicate this process with pineapples and mangoes.

Another very Panamanian crop that is being grown now for commercial purposes is the yucca.  Traditionally a subsistence crop there is now interest in growing this tuber for commercial purposes.  The yucca is a very versatile crop as it can be cooked in its natural state much like any other root or it can be ground into flour and used for baking and cooking.  

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