Reinforcing all the controls that the country may have in matters of importation is the formal request that the National Association of Pig Farmers of Panama (Anapor), he requested in a room courtesy granted to him by the Agricultural Affairs Commission of the National Assembly.
The president of Anapor, Carlos Enrique Pitty Ceballos, stated that they normally participate in this commission, illustrating the behavior of the sector during the last year, and that the sector closed positively, since all the animals they had on the market were sold.
According to Pitty, they also participated in the commission to expose an issue that has them extremely concerned, and that is the opening of the trade promotion treaty with the United States, since in the first 15 days of this year, 4,700 tons entered the country metrics of frozen pork, which is equivalent to almost a month of national production, which depresses the price of the national product.
He explained that they ask the National Assembly to support them with the central government, to strengthen all the controls that can be had without violating the treaties, but verifying that what is declared in the National Customs Authority is what is actually imported into the country.
For deputy Eric Broce, what corresponds is a supervision of all these issues in a technical table, in which all the entities that have to do with the matter participate, such as the National Customs Authority, the Ministry of Agricultural Development (Mida), the Ministry of Health (Minsa), the Assembly and the Executive.
In addition, the deputy proposed four points that should be the north of this task, which would be to strengthen surveillance controls in Customs, bring slaughterhouses to import capacity, demand the revision of the treaties and work on a food sovereignty law.
For his part, the president of the Commission for Agricultural Affairs, deputy Julio Mendoza, stated thatThere is another category in the agricultural sector that deals with the importance of reviewing of free trade agreements with the United States government.
Furthermore, he explained that there is an issue that can be considered a crime, and it is the importation through a tariff item of certain products of the pig sector, in which it is seen at first glance that something is wrong with the fulfillment of the cold chain, for which the director of Customs, the director of Food Control and Veterinary Surveillance of MINSA, and to the Minister of Agricultural Development, to explain why these products enter the country in this way.
Mendoza said that, for next week, a meeting with all the parties involved is proposed with this topic to start looking for the relevant solutions.
elcapitalfinanciero.com