Organic cocoa and coffee in Peru

Government institutions and international cooperation organizations promote projects intended to improve the quality and productivity of organic, sustainable cocoa in order to expand the exportable offer and reach a larger amount of certified cocoa buyers, Andina reports. Peruvian exports of cocoa and its derivatives have showed a relevant importance in the last years, experiencing the highest growth rates in 2009, with 77.66 million US$ in sales and 24 tons in volume. According to Peru's Trade and tourism Promotion Board, Promperu, the production chain of cocoa is one of the most important in the country, with a direct impact on economies in every region.
 

The regional government of Junin in central Peru will invest 2.6 million dollars in a project in the province of Chanchamayo to support small organic coffee farmers who want to export their coffee to the world. Agriculture Regional Manager Oscar Calizto Gavino said the project would be launched in August was aimed at promoting a sustainable production of organic coffee in the micro basins of the districts of Perené and San Luis Shuaro in Chanchamayo. Six hundred farmers from the districts of San Luis de Shuaro and Perené will benefit from this project. An adequate technology should be applied to obtain high-quality products to be exported to Europe, Asia and North America markets, Andina reports.

From a total of five million sacks of coffee produced per year, approximately 1.2 million correspond to high quality organic varieties, said Cesar Rivas Peña, President of the National Board of Coffee (JNC). He also stressed that, with 75,000 certified cultivation hectares, Peru had become the first producer country of organic coffee in the world. He estimated sales at about 650 US$ this year. The production is concentrated mostly in Chanchamayo, Satipo, San Martin, La Convencion, Sandia, Quillabamba, San Ignacio and Rodriguez de Mendoza, Living in Peru reports. The main markets for Peruvian organic coffee are the United States, Japan and the countries of the European Union, which receive 99 % of the production.