For the agricultural and forestry activities of TIMBERFARM businesses in Panama, there have been and still are numerous restrictions, but in principle most of the work could and can be carried out.
Beside the administrative approval hurdles, that take a lot of time only because the people in Panama also professionally can not move without restrictions. Furthermore, the responsible offices are working with a drastically reduced number of staff, it is mainly the restrictions around the transport of people and goods (agricultural material, spare parts, repairs, etc.), which are necessary to carry out, hinder and slow down.
In PANAMA EAST, a work team was also completely absent for ten days because a worker was infected with the coronavirus -with only mild symptoms- so the whole team had to be quarantined. Fortunately, a replacement team from PANAMA WEST could be called up for a few days to continue the most urgent work.Since no one else had been infected, the core team was able to resume work.
In PANAMA EAST the work focus is on the one hand on the final phase of planting the new rubber plantation PANARUBBER 20, resp. on the management of the rubber plantations PANARUBBER 17, 18 and 19.
In PANAMA WEST, the time-consuming care and maintenance of plantations is reduced more from year to year, because in many places the treetops close increasingly from the fourth or fifth year of growth and the ground vegetation changes in such a way that it can be managed much more easily.
The focus of work in PANAMA WEST is therefore primarily on preparing the 2015 rubber vintage for the harvest phase and especially on the tapping of the rubber trees that are already being harvested.
18.08.2020 - View Newsletter Q3-4-2020 (currently available in German only)