In Panama, I was working with the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MIDA) as a consultant for the Rural Development Office. The project I was assigned to involved developing solutions to an issue faced by a large majority of the rural farmers throughout Panama. The issue: the lack of commercialization opportunities. 

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Context: 

When I arrived, in October 2017, my counterparts at MIDA informed me about the issue, fielding the complaints of small farmers throughout the country, and provided a truck and a driver, It was up to me to figure out the rest. I set to work compiling a list of institutions, organizations, cooperatives, professors, business people, and people in government I should meet with. I spent almost everyday for three months talking with people involved in Panama's agrifood value chain trying to understanding the situation, looking a the problems, asking for solutions, and probing for ideas. 

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It was an incredible journey which took me all over the country meet people from senior government officials and business executives to small farmers in remote rural villages. I learned so much about the country, its people, and it micro and economic circumstances which created the challenges MIDA had called me in to help solve. 

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After several months, I was able to put together a coherent plan, form an inter-institutional team, and get the Minister's approval to move ahead with our pilot project. 

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The Pilot Project:

Considering all of the variables, MIDA's current and projected resources, infrastructure constraints, and private sector needs the team and I crafted a plan to establish a test network of permanent, physical markets. These community markets could serve to stimulate local economies while provide a network of consolidation points to make it easier of wholesalers to collect produce for regional and national supply chains.