CICAD

1
Best Practice Marketing for Communities in
Mountainous and/or Drug Crop Producing Regions
Central Huallaga and Vrae, Peru
Chiang-Mai, Thailand, November 24-25, 2005
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PERU

• A potentially wealthy country with a rich and
  varied cultural and architectural heritage.
• Facing the Pacific, it is an important link
  between south-east Asia and Brazil.
• Its development has been held back by endemic
  corruption and the failure of successive
  governments to address social and economic
  inequality.
• Peru is rich in copper, silver, lead, zinc, oil
  and gold.
• It also enjoys spectacular and varied scenery,
  including Lake Titicaca, the world's highest
  navigable lake, and has a strong Inca and
  pre-Inca heritage, which includes the ancient
  Incan capital of Cuzco and the lost city of Machu
  Picchu.

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Facts

• Population 28 million (UN, 2005)
• Capital Lima
• Area 1.28 million sq km (496,225 sq miles)
• Major languages Spanish, Quechua, Aymara
• Major religion Christianity
• Life expectancy 67 years (men), 72 years (women)
  (UN)
• Main exports Fish and fish products, copper,
  zinc, gold, crude petroleum and by-products,
  lead, coffee, sugar, cotton
• GNI per capita US 2,360 (World Bank, 2005)

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Peru Illicit Crops Cultivation

• Peru was once the worlds foremost coca producer.
• However, cultivation was reduced significantly
  from 115,000 hectares in the mid-1990s to 42,200
  hectares at present.
• This reduction is in part attributable to a
  better alternative development program.
• However, after Colombia, Peru remains the second
  largest coca leaf producer, with a current
  potential cocaine output of 155 metric tons.

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Central Huallaga

• Population 160,000 habitants (67 are poor).
• Topography Undulating, the rolling hills up
  into the mountains are called the high jungle and
  the Tarapoto region is called "the land of
  waterfalls". The mountains on either side of
  Tarapoto rise to an average of 1,800 masl.
• Soils Alluvial, great for agricultural and
  cattle development. The Peruvian Ministry of
  Agriculture said those are the most fertile soils
  of the tropic. Recent deforestation is causing
  mudslides.
• Rainfall 2,000 mm annually.
• Temperature 22.6 C, warm and humid
  Frost-susceptible.
• Trade network characteristics
• Access to major cities Huancayo, Lima. However,
  road conditions are deplorable.
• International airport Lima
• Seaport Iquitos

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Development Initiatives

• Conduct agricultural extension. Increase cacao
  yield propagation systems fertilization
  pruning pest management, etc.
• Leadership scholarships have also been awarded
  these enable thirty farmers at a time to live and
  study for five days at the ICT-NAS/CICAD
  Experimental Station in Tarapoto.
• Training consists of 50 hours of classroom work
  and 50 hours on the field (hands-on).

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Future Activities

• Expand the production and commerce of sugar
  cane-ethanol, palm oil, cocoa, coffee,
  export-certified wood, tropical fruits, etc.
  taking advantage of the trade benefits provided
  by ATPDEA and making it permanent via a free
  trade agreement.
• Promote private, national and foreign
  investment.
• Create direct and indirect employment.

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Central Huallaga

• Work with Cocoa in the Central Huallaga of the
  San Martins Region, (Tingo Maria, Tocache y
  Juanjui) began in 1992 with the participation of
  the United Nations.
• CICAD/OAS, in association with the NAS/Peru
  country team, has continued to maintain its
  support through the Tropical Crops Institute
  (ICT) in Tarapoto, Peru.
• The ICT was created in 1998 as a means to provide
  Peruvian government with technical scientific
  research that can be used to backstop the
  execution of alternative development projects.

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ACOPAGRO

• In 1997, more than 500 families of cacao
  producers created the cooperative ACOPAGRO with
  the idea of creating a supply-chain for the cacao
  produced in the region and contribute to increase
  farmers income.
• The three pillars of ACOPAGRO are strenghtening
  farmers associations, technical assistance and
  marketing.
• Since 2002 the cooperative has been exporting
  cacao (with the FLO-Fair trade certificate) to
  Europe (Italy, Spain and Switzerland).
• In 2004, 429 metric tons were sold with a value
  of US 549,497.
• In 8 years, net worth of ACOPAGRO went from US79
  to US100,000.

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The Valley of the Rivers Apurimac and Ene, VRAE

• Topography Rolling, 450-1,800 m.a.s.l. It
  presents a mountainous relief with slopes that
  range between 40 and 80 of the total surface.
• Soils Clay loam, and ideal soils for the
  development of quality cocoa.
• Rainfall 1500 mm per year
• Temperature and climate 17-18C annual average
  temperature Humid Amazon Tropical Mountainous
  Forest.
• Trade network characteristics
• Access to major cities Huancayo, Lima
• Seaport Iquitos
• Located 768 km from the City of Lima-Perú.

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The Valley of the Rivers Apurimac and Ene, VRAE

• The Valley of the rivers Apurimac and Ene, known
  as VRAE, is located at the South East in the
  upper jungle of the country. It comprises the
  region of Ayacucho, Cusco and Junín. This is a
  Valley of the Andean Amazon Slopes of Peru, the
  Incas sacred land.
• In the lower part of this basin, soils are rich
  in minerals and with great aptitude for the
  agricultural activity, mainly cacao. These are
  soils with excellent physical chemical and
  biological properties, ideal texture for quality
  coffee and cacao production.
• This valley concentrates two thirds of the
  national production of cacao.

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• Greatly composed of QUECHUA migrants of the
  Andean regions that preserve the tradition of a
  collective working system named AYNI, their
  ancestral language quechua inheritance of the
  INCA Empire.
• There are approximately 37,000 inhabitants in the
  valley. 87 of the population lives in rural
  areas.
• The great majority of them are ex-coca leaf
  growers.
• 48 of the population is considered to live in
  extreme poverty.
• In the past decades the area was hit by
  subversion, forcing its population to abandon
  their coffee and cocoa fields and use limited
  technology.

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Coca cultivation in Apurimac-Ene

• Coca cultivation has long been established in
  Apurimac-Ene, predominantly on the steep-slope
  areas where the only other crops that can be
  grown are coffee and a few legumes.
• To a lesser extent coca is also grown in areas of
  lower slopes, sharing the land with annual crops
  like maize, yucca, beans, sesame and permanent
  crops like cacao and fruit trees.
• Apurimac-Ene is the second largest coca growing
  region of Peru, and with 14,700 ha in 2004, it
  represented 29 of the national total.
• According to local authorities, coca cultivation
  in this area would be linked to the presence of
  subversive groups.

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Production practice and strategy

• The CICAD/OAS program on Biological Control of
  Cacao Diseases was launched in 1998 and has been
  implemented and developed in conjunction with the
  U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the
  Peruvian National Agricultural Health Service
  (SENASA).
• The objective of the program is to promote cacao
  production and thus discourage farmers from
  planting illicit crops, in a context of community
  participation, sustainability, and environmental
  protection. The programs primary focus is in
  areas where coca is grown illicitly (Apurimac
  River Valley, Alto Huallaga and Aguaytia).

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DEVELOPMENT

• In 2004, the social and political situation
  remained tense in Apurimac-Ene. There were
  numerous road blockades by farmers organizations
  protesting against possible eradication of coca
  fields and demanding the release of their
  imprisoned leaders.
• The social tensions surrounding the issue of coca
  cultivation were noticeable during the past two
  years and impeded the work of various
  organizations in alternative development
  projects.
• Since 1995, some agencies have been implementing
  Alternative Development projects to improve
  cocoa, coffee and palm tree production. These
  efforts have benefited approximately 1,100
  persons.

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DEVELOPMENT

• The VRAE constitutes one of the main areas of
  intervention of the National Program of
  Alternative Development (ADP),
• due to the strong presence of cultivation of coca
  for illicit purposes and to the drug trafficking
  activities in the region. As a result, there is a
  need to counteract the negative effects of the
  terrorism and the social violence.
• For this reason, cocoa becomes one of the main
  alternative
• crops that the ADP wishes to boost in order to
  recover the
• economic and social stability of the valley.

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Production practice and strategy

• Project components include technology transfer
  and agricultural extension programs.
• Contacts have also been made with the private
  sector, nationally and internationally, with the
  purpose of expanding marketing outlets.
• The purpose is to offer a high quality cacao bean
  to clients. To achieve this, they provide
  technical assistance and constant training to
  their producers, with highly qualified
  technicians in the sustainable production of
  cacao.
• They work with a production system adequate to
  the reality of producers in the Apurimac River
  valley avoiding the use of polluting
  agrochemicals, and encouraging them to generate
  their own fertilizers with resources obtained in
  their farms, the use of shade in order to avoid
  the stressing of the plant as well as the use of
  varieties that do not demand too much
  fertilizers.

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Conclusions

• Coffee and small cacao farmers once generated
  significant
• income in rural areas, but because of terrorism
  and the coca
• boom, many struggling small-scale farmers were
  forced into
• coca production or abandoned their land and were
  pushed
• deeper into poverty.
• That is the reason why farmers in Peru must be
  able to earn income and do so without
  jeopardizing their natural resources if they are
  to be persuaded to leave coca production
  permanently. As a result, the projects work on
  the many angles that have an impact on
  agricultural income.