Panama Country Book

Last update: May 2025

This page contains information about some of the data available in the FEWS NET Data Explorer (FDE) for Panama. This is not a comprehensive guide.

For information about using the filters and fields for specific domains in the FDE, see Choose a Data Domain.

Summary table

Country food security context

Statistical reporting units

Panama usually uses administrative units as their statistical reporting units.

Administrative (admin) units are the geographical areas into which a country is divided. FEWS NET uses the following terminology: National boundary = admin 0, First sub-national division = admin 1 (e.g., states in the United States), Second sub-national division = admin 2 (e.g., counties in the United States), and so on.

Admin 1: Provinces (provincia) and indigenous regions (comarcas indígenas)

Admin 2: Districts (distritos)

Crop data

Explore our crop data.

View our documentation on using the Crop Domain.

Crop estimate data sources

The primary source for Panama’s crop statistics is the Ministry of Agricultural Development (Ministerio de Desarrollo Agropecuario).  Yearly crop by crop summaries are presented at the Admin 1-level and are found in the Cierre Agricola section of the ministry website.

A secondary source of data for the country’s three principal crops (rice, maize, cowpeas) is the Panamanian Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Censo (INEC), in its series of annual reports entitled “Superficie Sembrada y Cosecha de Arroz, Maíz y Fríjol de Bejuco.”

Crop reporting units

The country’s crop statistics are reported by the Admin 1-level provinces and indigenous regions. 

Year and season definition

The annual agricultural year (or cropping year) is defined by the Ministry as being May 1 through April 30 of the following year. Years are end-aligned, often referred to by the year in which most of the harvests occur.

Example: Crops planted in September 2022 and harvested in 2023 would be noted as 2023 data.

In earlier years, seasonal crop statistics were provided by season, of which there are two principal ones:

• First, or primera: Planting occurs between January and the end of July, with a harvest between August and October

• Second, or segunda: Planting occurring between August and December, with the harvest between November and March of the next year.

Primary crops

The principal food crops grown in the country are rice, maize and a number of bean crops. The Ministry of Agricultural Development reports annually on more than 30 of the 66 crops grown in the country.   

Production systems

The Ministry qualifies the rice and maize crops as being one of two different production systems:

• Mechanized: May use tractors, fertilizers and pesticides, and sometimes irrigation

• Chuva: A system used for centuries in the area referring to a low-input system of cultivation which relies on burning to prepare the soil and regularly moving the fields after two or three years of use. A modified form of chuva is recommended by the Ministry as a sustainable production system for small farmers. 

Crop statistics context

We have captured crop statistics from official reporting for the 1980 to 2024 period. The data are relatively complete, with few gaps, and appear of relatively good quality.  

The Ministry of Agricultural Development reports area sown in hectares, and quantity produced in quintales (one tenth of a metric tonne). In recent reporting, production quantities are often provided in 3 different quantity measures (quintal, kilogram, metric ton).  Data are provided for area harvested. Yield in this database is computed by dividing quantity-produced by the area sown.  

Crop statistic reporting often refers to the Panama province as Panamá Este – Chepo, and the Panama Oeste province as Panamá Oeste – Capira.

Methodology

No current information is available for the crop estimation method used by local authorities to report up to the Ministry.