Agricultural projects by LAN in Peru
As part of the objectives set out by LNV, the LAN team has launched 4 projects in the agricultural sector with the intention of materialising the vision for the Peruvian agriculture as well as the circular agriculture plan developed in 2021 for Peru by the LAN team. These projects aim to focus on the value chains of organic bananas, coffee and large-scale agro-export products such as mango, blueberry, table grape, avocado, among others. The project themes address different areas and themes prioritised, such as feeding the cities and circular agriculture, including various points of interest such as water management, inclusion of women and youth, access to finance for small-scale producers and agro-logistics.
The Peru Nexus Project: Water - Energy - Food (Food Component) – Lima Region
The Santa Eulalia river sub-basin comprises an area of approximately 1,067 square kilometers. The river originates at an altitude of nearly 4,800 meter and after 58 km joins the Rimac river at an altitude of 956 meter and from where it will make its way across the city of Lima from east to west. The Santa Eulalia river basin is home to approximate 29,000 people, most of whom are lacking basic needs in terms of access to water and energy, housing, education and income. The valley also provides 50% of the water needs and 70% of the electricity needs of metropolitan Lima. Moreover, the basin produces a wide variety of fruits mainly cherimoya and avocados for commercial purposes that are sold in Lima and vegetables for their own consumption.
The Water, Energy, Food (WEF) nexus is a relatively new approach that takes into account the interactions between the sectors of water, energy and food; aiming to minimise the trade-offs (developing one sector at the expense of another sector) and to maximise possible synergies between them. The Peru Nexus project will result in a more efficient use of water, energy and food resources, enhanced resilience to the impact of climate change, improved agricultural practices and the development of the local private sector in the Santa Eulalia river sub-basin. From an agricultural point of view the project aims at improving efficiency in water practices for irrigation with a focus on improving productivity. Technical training and access to markets will play a significant role in the development of this project.
Pilot Circular and Inclusive Coffee Production in Jaen – Cajamarca Region
Coffee is the main agricultural export product in Peru. According to the latest National Agricultural Census, approximately 223,000 families manage 425,400 hectares (ha) of coffee, located in 15 regions, 95 provinces and 450 districts. However, only 7 of them (Junín, San Martín, Cajamarca, Cusco, Amazonas, Huánuco and Pasco) account for 91% of the total number of producers and cultivable area.
Coffee production and smallholder coffee farmers face a number of difficulties. Low productivity is mainly due to poor technical management of the farms. Farmers produce with traditional systems and are reluctant to change, have a poor entrepreneurial and environmental vision, which leads to low profitability and poor environmental management preventing the generation of sufficient income and environmental care. At the same time, the availability of technical assistance is scarce. As a result, many producers still lack adequate post-harvesting management especially in terms of waste waters from the process.
The overall purpose of this project is to support the sustainable production of coffee in Peru by the development of a circular and inclusive value chain, from the local production to the end market. It aims the improvement of coffee production practices to decrease the negative environmental effects under the conceptual framework of circular economy and climate. The project takes as pilot the coffee producers of cooperative “Rios del Inka” in Jaen - Peru; composed by 145 families. Focus is paid to the efficient use of water and reduced environmental impact in the wet processing of coffee with a perspective of inclusion of women and youth in agriculture, generating a positive impact on small coffee producers in terms of access to markets, better income and creation of job opportunities.
Sustainable reporting Organic Banana Sector - Piura Region
In Peru, 80% of all agricultural units are family-owned. Family farms are small producers that often live in extreme poverty, and are vulnerable to food insecurity, even though they generate around 80% of all food products in the country, not only in terms of quantity but above all in terms of quality, food diversity and nutritional value. Growth is hindered because agricultural financing is a continuous challenge in the Peruvian economy. The percentage of producers in family farming covered by financial institutions (public or private) does not even reach 10% and, in recent years, microfinance institutions have reduced their effect to this type of agriculture.
The Organic Banana chain is concentrated in the Piura Region (in the Chira and San Lorenzo Valleys) in particular in the province of Sullana where about 7 thousand families of producers depend almost exclusively on the product and where 25 of the 80 existing associations in the Piura region generate 84.5% of exports.
The project focuses its efforts on providing information on the sustainability of cooperatives and the organic banana sector in order to generate interest and awareness among financial institutions of the current situation and to see the possibility of adapting or influencing specific aspects that will allow cooperatives to access financing in order to maintain their competitiveness.
Baseline Study on Cold Chain and Agrologistics
According to the Logistics Performance Index (LPI), Peru occupies one of the last places on refrigerated warehouse capacity in the South American region. Although in 2014 there were similarities among countries, Brazil, Colombia and Chile have improved the logistics sector in different areas, whereas Peru went from having 0.081 m3 in 2016 to 0.004 m3 in 2018 in its refrigerated warehouse capacity per urban resident, resulting in a dramatic setback in this area. According to the 2018 LPI ranking, Peru is ranked 83rd in the world, while Chile leads the region in 34th place; and the Netherlands is ranked 6th.
The main problem is the lack of comprehensive, systematized and unified information on the agro-logistics sector. This leads to a lack of policy implementation by the Peruvian government, food los of perishable products produced by local farmers and the atomisation of a market that hinders the entry of new actors with new solutions in a structured way aligned to local private sector development needs.
Due to the great importance of the agrologistics and cold chain for the agro-export industry in Peru, the project supports the elaboration of the first multidimensional study for the agrologistics sector in Peru. It provides a comprehensive situation analysis that will enable the identification of concrete opportunities for collaboration between the Netherlands and Peru in the fields of agrologistics and cold chain through capacity building, knowledge transfer, technology and innovation and businesses. The project crosscuts the fields of agriculture and logistics with focus in the cold chain for import and exports looking for potential opportunities to support the development and the improvement of the local private sector.
If you are interested in delving into these projects, please contact us at LIM-LNV@minbuza.nl