Panama earthquake left 30,000 litres of milk stranded in Tonosí
The earthquake struck on October 9, with its epicentre 39 kilometres north-west of Tonosí, according to Panama’s National Civil Protection System. Authorities later reported damage to homes, health centres, schools, roads and bridges in several provinces. In the Azuero region, the disruption affected access to farms and the movement of agricultural products.
Audemio Palomino, the regional director of the Ministry of Agricultural Development in Los Santos, said roughly 30,000 litres of milk could not be transported during the three days after the earthquake. The ministry is surveying farms and rural routes as part of an assessment of the damage. The immediate difficulty was not necessarily a fall in cows’ output, but the inability to reach farms and remove the milk.
At a Tonosí collection centre that supplies Nestlé, almost 7,000 litres failed to reach their destination on the day of the earthquake and spoiled, according to the centre’s manager, Víctor Villarreal. The tremor also moved tanks inside the facility. Staff inspected equipment, connections and refrigeration systems before receiving milk again. During the following days, intake fell to about half its normal level before recovering to roughly 80%, Villarreal said.
Power cuts compounded the transport problems. The National Cattlemen’s Association of Los Santos reported that about 35,000 litres of fresh milk were not collected over three days because of access and refrigeration difficulties. That figure differs from the ministry’s estimate of 30,000 litres; the two numbers come from separate sources describing the same episode and are not added together.
The interruption also affected cattle. Villarreal said that 20 of his 72 cows developed mastitis after milking stopped for several days. Treated animals must remain outside the commercial supply chain while there is a risk of medicine residues in their milk. He estimated that the affected cows could be out of production for at least 15 days, depending on the treatment and applicable withdrawal periods.
Rice producers in Tonosí, Mariato and Arenas reported a separate access concern. They estimated that about 12,000 hectares could be affected if roads and bridges were not reopened, representing roughly 1.2m quintals, or 22-25% of the national output expected this year, according to Fapagrap. The producers’ main concern was the movement of machinery and trucks rather than the general condition of the crops. The ministry said it was preparing a sector-by-sector report with Tonosí technicians, while the Agricultural Insurance Institute was helping distinguish earthquake damage from problems linked to earlier weather conditions. A final assessment of the dairy losses was not yet available.
