Working with IPEH to boost paprika exports

(Lima, June 27, 2006).- Paprika is being positioned to continue growing as one of Peru’s leading agroexport products. The Peruvian Institute of Asparagus and Vegetables (IPEH), through its Paprika Committee, and the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) today signed an agreement to strengthen the paprika productive chain. The project covers training in food safety and quality at critical points along the chain with the aim of guaranteeing an export product with uniform quality and ensuring its positioning on international markets.

The Export Promotion Commission (PROMPEX) will provide support for product promotion, technical development of publications and their dissemination in coordination with the private sector. This initiative is the result of teamwork by the public and private sectors, with important support from CAF, and is an auspicious effort to open the way for new forms of financing, executing and maintaining activities that favor the economic and social development of the country.

Paprika exports have grown rapidly, increasing 95% last year from the year before. This strong pressure on the productive chain has created the need for integrated work to develop it. The project that comes into being today involves promotion, training and certification in good agricultural practices in the field, and technical training for the intermediate actors in the chain.

The direct beneficiaries of this initiative will be approximately 100 small- and medium-sized paprika producers in the areas of Lambayeque, La Libertad, Ancash, Lima, Ica and Arequipa and six important paprika agroexport companies. The benefits of this pilot program are expected to spread throughout the sector through dissemination of the resulting technical documents.

The development and certification of the local protocol in Good Agricultural Practices will be the first pilot in Peru and the basis for the later development of a seal of quality with international recognition.

The third Peruvian agroexport product Peruvian paprika is recognized around the world for its excellent quality. Its main use is as a natural pigment and condiment by the food and pharmaceutical industries. In 2005, Peruvian paprika exports were among the leaders in the markets of the United States and Europe and generated US$95 million in foreign exchange for the country, becoming Peru’s third agroexport product. This export sector has also had great impact on employment with the generation of 15,000 direct and indirect jobs in the rural areas of the Peruvian coast.

About IPEH IPEH was set up in 1998 as the Peruvian Asparagus Institute, expanding its scope to include other vegetables in 2003. It is a not-for-profit association of producers and exporters of asparagus, artichoke and capsicum (the same family as paprika). The IPEH Paprika Committee, which was formed in May 2005, has given priority on its work agenda to promoting the technical development of the sector.

About PROMPEX The Export Promotion Commission – PROMPEX – was created in 1996 to lead the export promotion activities of Peruvian goods and services through concerted action with the private sector and the public institutions involved in the country's foreign trade, with the aim of fostering the sustainable development of exports based on the growth and diversification of the Peruvian export offer, the management capacity of the export companies, and the opening and consolidation of export markets.

To develop an export offer with competitive and sustainable quality, PROMPEX promotes programs to implement Good Agricultural Practices, Good Manufacturing Practices and Quality Systems, as well as actively participating in the standardization process as Technical Secretariat of the Technical Standardization Committees for the main agroexport products, such as paprika, asparagus, coffee, mangos and table grapes.

About CAF The CAF Competitiveness Support Program (PAC) is a strategic project of the Andean Development Corporation whose objective is to strengthen the productivity, competitiveness and sustainable development of the economies of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.

By providing technical and non-reimbursable financial assistance for projects, PAC supports the joint work of governments, and the business and academic sectors. Its aim is to create competitive advantages in the region which favor higher economic growth rates and a better quality of life for its inhabitants.

Based on CAF’s long record, PAC helps identify the factors that sustain and limit competitiveness in each country. The Program selects and assists the most feasible projects with greatest impact on the population, according to the characteristics and requirements of each place, actor and initiative.