Pandemic pushes Peru's vital peasant farmers to the brink
The IndependentFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “And now we’re running out.” Last May, a national survey by the Institute for Peruvian Studies said 90% of those living in rural areas were eating less food than usual. Carlos Paredes, an economist who directs Sierra Productiva, an initiative helping provide 50,000 farming families with technology, said that Peruvian laws, in practice, discourage business with peasants who are seen as “not profitable.” “The ministries of agriculture and economy have norms that indicate profitable agriculture is only that with at least 20 hectares of land,” Paredes said. “They’ve gotten leftovers or nothing,” economist Eduardo Zegarra said of peasant farmers. Miriam Trinidad, director of AgroPeru, a news site focusing on the agricultural industry, said that if credits aren’t provided to farmers soon, many “will stop planting, food security will be put at risk and dependency on importing food stuffs will grow.”
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