Development of agro-industrial production chains in the impact zone of the IIRSA North Highway

(Tarapoto, September 25, 2008). Some 900 families of coffee, cacao, palmito (heart- of-palm), and sacha inchi (Inca peanut) producers in the Peruvian Amazon will be trained in soil recovery, crop improvement, and use of organic fertilizer with a view to implementing new crop systems, improving the competitiveness of production chains, promoting good environmental practices, and coordinating export markets.

This training will be possible thanks to a non-reimbursable technical cooperation agreement signed by the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) in favor of the Peruvian Amazon Research Institute (IIAP) to promote a project for the “Sustainable Development of Coffee, Cacao, Palmito, and Sacha Inchi Production Chains, in the Amazon Gateway Region (IIRSA North).

CAF’s assistant representative in Peru, Ricardo Campins, explained that the project is being carried out as part of CAF’s Competitiveness Support Program with the purpose of boosting local economic activity by offering greater productivity, management capability, and market coordination in order to raise the standard of living of the inhabitants.

He also highlighted that, thanks to this project, there will be a possibility for the populations and communities located along the Tarapoto-Yurimaguas stretch of the road to take advantage of the connectivity opportunities that the North Inter-ocean Highway offers. To that end, the idea is to offer them the opportunity to organize themselves, receive training, and become directly involved in their own progress.

He further commented that this project will be executed in 24 months and will form part of the Amazon Gateway’s Sustainable Integrated Development Platform (PDISPA), formed by the IIRSA Norte consortium, Oro Verde Cooperative, and the Alianza Palmito Producers Association, and that it was devised as a strategy for promoting the regions based on forming alliances among the different categories of organization: public, private, and civil society.

The president of IIAP, Luiz Ezequiel Campos Baca, specified that the direct beneficiaries of the project will be 234 coffee producers, 384 cacao producers, 200 palm heart producers, and 50 sacha inchi producers, who will be trained by specialists from the IIAP to promote the use of agroforestry techniques that are beneficial for the environment and to facilitate the competitiveness of those techniques with a view to boosting local economic activity.

In addition, the IIAP will take charge of performing a diagnosis of the zone’s production chains and also of promoting appreciation for Amazon Gateway products and the opening up of new markets at home and abroad.

The result will be that small producers in the northern road hub will benefit thanks to the synergy of two institutions that promote sustainable development in this part of the Peruvian Amazon.

The Peruvian Amazon Research Institute (IIAP), created in 1979, is an autonomous entity incorporated in accordance with national public law. Its headquarters is in Loreto and it has offices in Peru’s main Amazon regions. Its mission is to contribute to improving the quality of life of the Amazonian peoples through research and technology transfer aimed at sustainable development and conservation of biological diversity of the Amazon region.