Panama & Haiti: Agricultural Cooperation Program

Posted on 2018-05-02

The Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development of Haiti, Carmel Andre Beliar, and the Director General of International Cooperation of the Panamanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Selina Baños, agreed to strengthen cooperation in agricultural matters. To this end, they agreed on a group of actions, with the aim of formalizing the framework cooperation agreement signed in 2014 and strengthening, even more, existing programs with the participation of other strategic partners, through triangular cooperation. During his meeting with the Panamanian Vice Chancellor, Luis Miguel Hincapié, the Caribbean Minister presented a report on the progress of the pilot plan developed, from biofortified corn and rice seeds received in 2014 to support the recovery of agricultural areas affected by the hurricane. Matthew. The study revealed the performance of the four types of corn seeds, provided by the Agricultural Research Institute of Panama (Idiap), with respect to the natives of that Caribbean country.

"This cooperation responds to the clear vision of Panama to collaborate with the Caribbean, within the framework of the objectives of sustainable development and food security," said Baños. Visiting the Isthmian nation, invited by the Idiap, the Haitian owner and the delegation that accompanied him thanked this gesture of collaboration of the Central American country, which allowed them to restore the devastated agriculture after the passage of Matthew. He also expressed the desire to replicate in Haiti the Panamanian models of research and transfer of agricultural technologies. As part of the work agenda, the delegation made a tour of the Center for Agricultural Research of Genetic Resources in Rio Hato, located in the central province of Coclé, where they learned about the Micropropagation Laboratory and the Yam Germplasm Bank, ñampi, yucca and other crop varieties. They also visited the El Bajo experimental farm, in which the Idiap certified seed plant is located, as well as the plot of genetic and pre-basic seed production by fangueo and transplanting individual thousand-meter plants, which exhibit yields between seven and 13 quintals.

Source: PanamaOn