Living in Peru : your everyday companion

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Peru's Government has decided to take the challenge of promoting exports and domestic consumption of some of its native crops, such as cereals (corn starch, purple corn, tarwi, barley), legumes (beans, butter beans, broad beans, chickpeas) and Andean grains (quinoa, amaranth, cañihua).

However, things will not be so easy, according to producers, manufacturers and researchers.

Firstly, native foods have a higher price, so people with very low incomes can't afford them, says Luz Gomez, head of the Department of Grains at Agrarian University.

Another issue is their low productivity, which increases the costs of production. René Taboada, General Manager of Industrias Alimenticias Cusco, reports that the Government has not invested in improving the seeds' productivity, thus, most farmers keep those crops for their own domestic consumption only.

Meanwhile, former President of Conveagro, Luis Zuñiga, says it is urgent to promote these crops, because at present it is clear that Peru is only self-sufficient in potatoes and rice, and has to import other foods.

Since the tendency in the world nowadays is to eat healthy foods, the specialists think that this could be a chance to increase the exports of some native Peruvian  foods.

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