Banapiña de Panamá to invest $86 million

Banapiña de Panamá, a subsidiary of the US company Del Monte, will invest $86 million starting in January 2018 for the first phase of its banana project in Barú, Chiriquí. ,

The company will be investing $ 105.7 million over the next seven years and calculates that the benefits will be about $ 715 million after 20 years. 

In May of 2017, President Juan Carlos Varela announced the subsidiary of Del Monte would "revive banana production in Barú, Chiriquí." At the same time, the Panamanian government noted that 1,200 banana farmers would rent their land to the producer for up to 40 years. 

Isaias Bonilla, a representative of the Rodolfo Aguilar Delgado Association of Agricultural Producers (lacque), explained that when the National Assembly discussed the draft law, about 790 farmers were willing to rent or sell their land based on the projected revenue. However Bonilla continued by explaining after analyzing the document it became clear that these farmers would only receive a one-time payment of $7,500 for renting their lands for a period of twenty years, which could be extendable to another twenty years; i.e., forty years. The plan was not considered to be fair, or cost-effective for farmers.

While it is unclear how the farmers how the farmers will now be compensated, what is clear is that Banapiña de Panamá continues to move forward with the development of land in the region.