UN Agency: Projects have assisted 83,000 rural families to escape poverty in last 25 years

More than 83,000 rural families in Peru have escaped poverty over the last 25 years as a result of financing for small businesses provided by the United Nation’s International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), state news agency Andina reported.

The agency’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Roberto Haudry, said that figure  includes 51,000 families from Peru’s Andean highlands who were living in extreme poverty, a condition in which individuals are unable to meet basic needs for water, food, sanitation, shelter and health care. Read more…

Investment in Peru’s main infrastructure projects may exceed $2 billion in 2010

The executive director of Peru’s private investment promotion agency, or ProInversión, said Friday investment in the country’s main infrastructure projects in 2010 is expected to reach more than $2 billion, according to state news agency Andina. Read more…

Adex: Peru’s export revenue falls by 14 percent in 2009

The Peruvian Association of Exporters, or Adex, announced Friday that Peruvian exports decreased by 14 percent in 2009. The total value of Peru’s exports totaled $26.5 billion last year, down from $30.6 billion in 2008, state news agency Andina reported. Read more…

President García pledges support for flood-devastated Cusco; estimates Machu Picchu train repairs could take less than 2 months

President Alan García called for public calm on Friday after flying over areas devastated by torrential rains, mudslides and floods in Peru’s southern Cusco department. García said the government will guarantee the reconstruction of the regions infrastructure and relief aid for some 25,000 people left homeless by the floods, daily El Comercio reported.

“The government is going to guarantee what is necessary to re-establish highways, railways and, in second place, electrical connections, which have been damaged in various places and can be re-established,” said García. He said the reconstruction could be done in less than two months. Read more…

Study: farmer profits increase with better communication; Child labor decreases

A recent study by a University of Maryland doctoral student shows that the installation of telecommunications technologies in isolated villages in rural Peru has a strong increase on farmers income while decreasing child labor, daily El Comercio reported.

Diether Beuermann, a doctoral candidate in economics at the University of Maryland, led the study with Miguel Paredes, a researcher at the Institute of Peru at San Martín de Porres University. (Click here to open full presentation of the study) Read more…

Regional government announces reforestation project in south-central Andes

The regional government of Huancavelica, located in Peru’s south-central Andes, announced today a tree-planting project covering 176 communities. The assistant manager of the government’s Environment and Protected Areas department, Mariela Espinoza, says the government will invest more than 5.5 million soles, approximately $2 million, to plant 1.3 million seedlings, state news agency Andina reported. Read more…

Peru coffee exports decrease by 20 percent; Quinoa exports increase

Peruvian coffee exports declined by about 20 percent in 2009, despite a strong demand abroad for the country’s prime agroexport. The value of coffee exports totaled $520 million last year, down from $640 million in 2008, reported the National Coffee Board.

The drop in exports was due to a decline in productivity by Peru’s coffee plantations leading to smaller harvests, says César Rivas, the president of the National Coffee Board. “We had a larger demand than our supply, to replace Colombian coffee” says Rivas, “but unfortunately we could not meet the demand due to a fall in productivity by our coffee plantations.” Read more…

Peru enacts investment law for high Andes areas

President Alan Garcia is scheduled to be in the central Andean valley of Jauja early today, to sign the enactment of a law that encourages investment in the high Andes. The law provides a series of tax and tariff incentives and exemptions for an initial period of 10 years to businesses that open and provide employment in Andean areas above 3000 m (9800 ft) .

The President is being accompanied to the event by the ministers of Agriculture, Adolfo de Córdova, the minister of Women and Social Development, Nidia Vilchez, and officers of Sierra Exportadora and Agrorural. Also at the event will be the president of the private business and industry confederation, Confiep, Ricardo Briceño, and president of the national society of industries, SNI, Pedro Olaechea, and leading entrepreneurs.  

Earlier this week, when announcing his trip today, President Garcia said the law is an invitation to private business and industry to seek opportunities for production and processing in the high Andes, including in lumber, farming, livestock, silversmiths and mining, which can give employment to thousands or even tens of thousands of people.

Cade 2009 – Peru’s 47th Annual Business Conference opens in Arequipa

Peru’s leading business executives, investors and politicians were in Arequipa today for the opening of the country’s major business event of the year, the Cade annual executives’ conference.  

The theme of the conference this year is Our Future, Our Opportunity, and the opening address was given by the former Inter-American Development Bank chief and current Ibero-American Secretary General, Enrique Iglesias. Other speakers during the three-day meeting include Alberto Benavides de la Quintana, founder and patriarch of the Buenaventura mining group; Mario Brescia Cafferata of the Brescia group, whose interests include the Banco Continental and the Libertador hotel chain; and Dionisio Romero, head of the Romero Group which includes the Banco de Credito.

Speakers over the next two days include a number of international leaders, such as Korean educator Ki Seok Kim from the University of Seoul; the minister of Education of Colombia, Cecilia María Vélez, Chilean economist Sebastian Edwards, and the World Marketing Director for Google, Bernardo Hernandez.

 The conference ends on Saturday, traditionally with an address by the President.

Climate change: intense cold front has killed 20,000 alpaca in Puno so far this year

Climate change continues to wreck havoc in Peru’s southern Altiplano, where the arrival of freezing temperatures since March — almost three months earlier than usual — have killed at least 20,000 alpaca, reported Peru’s National Agriculture and Sanitation Service, or Senasa.

Since January, approximately 20,000 alpaca – a number that still remains within normal limits – have died, and 73,000 others have suffered from various illnesses due to the cold, said Senasa Director Reinaldo Llano Flores.

Alpacas, or vicugna pacos, is a domesticated species of South American camelid, and resembles a small llama. These animals are mostly kept in herds, and bred specifically for their high-quality fiber.

When exposed to cold temperatures, alpacas are most likely to suffer from pneumonia, gastrointestinal problems such as diarrhea, and enterotoxaemia – an infection by Clostridium perfringens, bacteria which affects several types of domesticated animals, but not humans.

“Most families who raise alpacas in high Andean areas don’t have sufficient forage stored for their animals. And if their animals eat grass, they could suffer from enterotoxaemia and die if they are not treated with antibiotics,” said Hernán Saavedra, the regional director of Peru’s National Meteorology and Hydrology Institute or Senamhi.

“We need more money to buy medicine and to prevent more deaths,” said Llano in comments to daily El Comercio.

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