The incorporation of small producers into an export agriculture has allowed them to diversify risks and have better defense weapons against crisis situations, because now they do not depend only on the Peruvian market to market their products, said the president of the Association of Agrarian Producers Guilds of Peru (AGAP), Alejandro Fuentes.

He indicated that before it was impossible to achieve risk diversification because the crops of small producers were concentrated in products destined only for the local market, such as corn, potatoes and alfalfa.

He pointed out that, although the agro-export phenomenon in Peru began with products such as the Hass avocado, small producers, mainly from the mountains, have begun to join other agro-export production chains, due to the benefits that this activity brings. These include mango, kion, quinoa and native potatoes.

In this regard, the president of AGAP considered that it is necessary to start promoting those products that have export potential and that do not exist in other countries, such as native corn and native potatoes. This, he pointed out, would allow adding new markets through a different and quality offer.

"This is a phenomenon that is transforming especially the Peruvian Sierra and, in part, we are still not aware of this transformation that is taking place in an accelerated and super favorable way," he said.

He said that some regions have already joined those efforts, being one of the standard bearers Ayacucho, thanks to the effort and dedication they have been putting into the production of a key product, the Hass avocado. “Back comes Apurimac. Cajamarca is trying to do his thing and Junín is boosting the kion. So there is a very interesting change that should be spread more widely. It is no less a phenomenon that has been taking place in the mountains, which I think is very important to value, "he said.

The executive highlighted that Peru has a lot of potential to add new products to the agro-export chain and gain a presence in more markets, because it is the country with the most microclimates in the world, which gives it a strong capacity for competition.

“That boils down to the fact that you can do practically everything in Peru, you need to find the ideal place. Soon someone will start to produce cherries in Peru and go out to markets where there is no competition, the opportunity is there. For example, although we are hardly going to be able to compete with Idaho or Europe where there are large areas of white potato production and where producers receive subsidies, we can export native potatoes as a gourmet product. We can distinguish ourselves perfectly, as we did with the asparagus, with the blueberry and with the quinoa ”, he said.