From a statement issued by the National Assembly of Panama:



The plenary of the National Assembly approved, in a third debate, Bill No. 451, which declares rice to be a food security crop for the country.



In the explanatory memorandum of this document, it is emphasized that the declaration of rice as food security crop is specifically aimed at impacting the production, access and availability of a quality product for the population. To this end, production mechanisms that promote the productivity and competitiveness of the national crop will be created, so that consumption is supplied with national product and imports are a last option used to cover a shortage.

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68% of rice sales in the market are managed by 3 large companies, and 12% of the profits generated by the premiums are concentrated in a single company.



A study by the Chamber of Commerce concluded that the fixing by decree of the price of rice not only did not result in improvements in productivity, but also revealed the way in which the amount of area sown is distributed as well as the profits of rice trading companies in the local market.

Rice producers fear not being able to sell their rice harvest because of the entry of rice from countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay at much lower prices than local ones.



"At great risk are 60,000 hectares of rice, for which there is no known market for this production because Costa Rica is being invaded by milled rice imports from southern countries (Argentina and Uruguay)," said the new President of the National Assembly of Rice Producers, Domingo González. "

During 2013 11,190 hectares less were sown than in the previous year, paving the way for rice importations.



According to the Comptroller General of the Republic, last year the amount of land sown with rice fell by 11,190 hectares, which means that production fell by 10.2%.

In the past four years, the number of farmers engaged in rice production increased from 743 to 1,200, drawn by a fixed price system which in 2011 was covered by a subsidy amounting to $104 million.



The recent judgment by the Administrative Court annulling a presidential decree and ordering an increase in the price of a 73 kilo bag of rice to almost $49, confirms the wisdom of farmers who switched to growing the grain, confident that the subsidy levels would continue at astonishing levels, despite protests from other countries, the opinion of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and consumers of a product based on the local food basket, who pay one of the highest prices in the world for rice.