The Andes mountains of Peru are still farmed by terracing, as was practiced by the Incans. From the roads you will see the varied colors of the crops and Incans tilling the soil by hand.
Suasi Island is positioned 12,496 feet above sea level and 50 miles from Puno. The island is a privately protected natural area and your guide will offer information on environmentally sound Andean agricultural systems. Organic crops include native produce, quinoa, oca, tarhui, potatoes, and corn, and introduced crops like barley and oats. The greenhouse produces native herbs, flowers and trees in danger of extinction. Solar power generates all electricity including three solar boilers. Our normal program is 2 days and 1 night overnighting at Suasi Lodge with a stop at Lake Titicacain the afternoon.
In the Sacred Valley, from the Posada del Inca Yucay in Urubamba, experience the agriculture of the Incas via walking tours of the area. Visit ancient Incan agricultural terraces and a native Peruvian household in a walking tour and learn about the local culture and farming methods of the Incas. On an excursion to the salt mines of Maras, the inhabitants of the towns of Maras and Pichingoto will explain the process of salt extraction during your hike through the mines while you enjoy the picturesque beauty of an Andean valley. Walk to the circular terraces of Moray, ancient Incan laboratories used to domesticate the cultivation of plants that are now used all over the world.
Peru's climate and different geographical zones make it an important agricultural nation. Of the 120 domesticated plants Peru has provided the world, the potato is the most important. There are more than 3,000 varieties of potatoes found in Peru, making it the world's genetic center for the crop. Other important crops include sugarcane, coffee, and cotton, with Peru producing 2 of the world's finest strains of cotton: Pima and Tanguis. In addition to these staples, the UNDP estimates that the Andean and jungle food baskets include important vegetables and fruits that are relatively unknown but high in vitamins and proteins. These include camu-camu, a small jungle fruit with the highest known levels of vitamin C, and quinoa, a highland grain. In addition, Peru is also a major supplier of crops such as asparagus, because of its unique climate. Peru has a window for asparagus (US$120 million in export earnings in 1999) exports between November and January, months in which almost no other country exports the product. Other "designer" products include mangos, sweet onions, and herbs.
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Growing grape |
A potentially important source of income could come from Peru's virgin forest in the form of logging. The Peruvian government began overhauling its laws governing the timber industry in 2000, dividing up parcels and placing conditions on logging and exports of slow-growth hardwood trees such as cedar and mahogany. Together with Guyana, in northern South America, Peru is one of the few countries on the planet that has most of its forest reserves relatively untouched.
Despite its history of agriculture and immense natural wealth, agriculture has received little attention in the past few decades. The sector continues to struggle after years of government intervention in the 1960s and 1970s (when the military government undertook agrarian reform), and benign neglect throughout most of the 1980s and 1990s. For a brief period in the 1980s, during Alán García's presidency (1985-90), the government attempted to offer interest-free loans to farmers through a state-run farmers' bank. The bank was a failure, with negligible returns on loans and declining production.
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Growing potatoes |
Agriculture represents 13 percent of GDP but employs 30 percent of the country's population. The incoming government proposes upping the sector's percentage of GDP as well as its employment participation by focusing on value-added products and concentrating on vertical integration . Cotton production is one agricultural product that the government is attempting to increase through vertical integration. Cotton production is linked to the country's textile manufacturing. The country's textile industry exported more than US$700 million in 2000 and includes several vertically-integrated companies, such as Textiles San Cristobal, which produces for U.S. manufacturer Ralph Lauren and other high-end clothing companies. They run cotton plantations, thread and fabric factories, garment producers, and exporters of the final product.
The goal of Toledo's government is to get Peruvian textiles included in the list of products exported to the United States tariff-free under the Andean Trade Preference Act, passed in 1990. The Peruvian government is pushing for them to be included in an extension of the act, which is currently being negotiated. The Peruvian government believes that if textiles receive tariff-free status, there will be a boom throughout the textile industry, beginning in the cotton fields.
The government plans on doubling the number of acres dedicated to cotton in order to increase cloth production to feed the textile industry. Other targeted products include hard yellow corn for the poultry industry, coffee for the specialty coffee market in the United States and Europe, and sugarcane. Peru currently imports corn and sugarcane, despite its long history of development of both crops. According to the Department of Agriculture, Peru has been a net agricultural importer since 1980, with agriculture imports worth roughly US$200 million more than exports in 1999.
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Cotton from Peru |
Hundreds of laws were passed under the previous administration to stimulate the agriculture sector. These included privatization of fallow lands and irrigation systems, as well as removing conditions on land ownership and tenure. However, the government failed to pass 2 important pieces of legislation governing community-owned lands and water rights. Without these 2 laws, large agroindustry projects will not be able to operate.
One of Peru's best-known crops is coca, which is the raw material used to make cocaine. In addition to coca, Peru also produces substantial quantities of marijuana and, in recent years, poppies used in opium production. The government, together with its U.S., European, and UN partners, has been reducing coca crops since the mid-1990s, with promising results. Coca crops have fallen from 276,000 acres in 1992 to 84,000 acres currently. Neighboring Colombia has passed Peru as the leading producer of coca.
Carlos Alfredo Torres Duran
C.I. 17.467.916
Electronica en Estado Solido
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