PRESENTATION |
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Los Guayabos Farm - Province of Los Santos Sowing of Vegetables |
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The problem of poverty and malnutrition in Panama is worrying. The "Research of Levels of Life", performed in our country, promoted by the World Bank, revealed that 37.2% of the population in Panama is poor and from that, 16.7% are extremely poor, that is to say, they do not have the income nor they produce enough "to eat". This research shows that 511,800 Panamanians are extremely poor and 83.3% of these extremely poor, are in the Panamanian rural area. The origin of this poverty is found in a "historical process characterized by the inequity", stressed in the last years by the serious socio-economic crisis and by the programs of structural adjustments that face Panama, as well as the rest of the Latin American countries. That has caused a remarkable increase of the poverty, as well as a process of social decomposition expressed by the rupture of the family, violence, delinquency, corruption. All that attempts against the democratic system of our country. Panama, as well as each country of the region, must adopt measures and carry out acts to favour a greater and more efficient canalization of resources that must be intended for the most disadvantaged, particularly from our rural areas and with a special emphasis, to the rural areas of difficult access. Is in these areas where these problems multiply. The model of Sustainable Production Farms that is currently implemented by the Patronato de Nutricion in the rural areas of difficult access in our country, represent a strategy to attack the problem of poverty and malnutrition, with the active participation of the people involved in the project from its planning. The farms do not represent a model to give solution. They represent a real and effective alternative to accompany our farmer of subsistence, to improve the production, consumption and commercialization of food. From the point of view of a rural integral development, the farms represent a "first step", since they need the participation of the civil society and of the Government to support different actions that guarantee the building of access roads, improvement of the environmental conditions of these communities, improve the food quality and a better access to "quality" health cares. The population that is being covered by the farms is the most abandoned from the Governmental support and from other organizations, reason by which, more than a Government and sectorial production policy and strategy, the farms must be added as a "Government Policy" providing all the systematic and financial support to its implementation. |
Copyright © 2005 Patronato del Servicio Nacional de Nutrición
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