The Miracle of Peruvian Agribusiness Systems: Paradoxes and Opportunities (in English)
Synopsis "The Miracle of Peruvian Agribusiness Systems: Paradoxes and Opportunities (in English)"
A remarkable case of agricultural development. Prologued by Dr R Goldberg, from Harvard Business School, who is the world authority and creator of the term "agribusiness", he indicates that this is "an outstanding... analysis of the food system of Peru" and that "there has never been such a thorough study that proves"... the value of participation of small scale and large scale farmers. The Miracle of the Peruvian Agribusiness Systems describes how Peruvian agribusiness exporters became world leading exporters of many high value produce. With 180,000 hectares of desert land they substitute 2.5 million hectares of breadbasket quality lands, measured in dollar terms. They are among the world leaders in off season exports of asparagus, grapes, blueberries, avocado, mangoes, etc. grown in irrigated deserts, importing low price commodities corns, soy, and wheat. They follow a blue ocean like strategy.This success is based on private efforts with the subsidiary participation of the government only in the cases when the private sector could not directly negotiate with other governments. There were no subsidies to these exporters.The book also analyses some paradoxes of the country, its adverse geographic conditions, the lack of education and working and fixed capital of the great majority of the Peruvian farmers, the levels of rural poverty and malnourishment, parallel to this successful agribusiness story. The country faces a dichotomy, a minority of top agribusiness firms and a great majority of poor farmers.The book also suggests the opportunities to improve the traditional low income agriculture and the risks faced by the agribusiness exporters, who are currently highly competitive at the worldwide level.The book suggests a methodology to develop inclusive agribusiness systems and highlights how Dole the world top fruits company, helped groups of small organic bananas farmer's in Sullana, Peru, to become the world leaders, in spite being small one-hectare farmers. Describes how a new firm was created to complete the "missing link" in the organic bananas agribusiness chain, under Goldberg's System Approach, to ensure the success of the business. These small poor farmers now export certified organic bananas to Europe, USA and Japan, fulfilling the highest standards of quality. This is a replicable case of inclusive and profitable agribusiness development in low income countries.Analyses detailed midterm weekly price and supply trends that help to understand the Peruvian strategy and suggest at the same time new opportunities in some specific markets and seasons.A statistical appendix of the whole Peruvian agriculture describes the characteristics of the inputs supply, producers, agroindustry, retail and consumption. The subject is interesting for food, agriculture and agribusiness academicians, NGOs, export promotion institutions and businessmen; to all the operators along the food chains as well as coordinating mechanism like, wholesale markets, exchanges, cooperatives. Also for supporting institutions like banks, certification agencies, logistics, multilaterals and development agencies.This book does not analyze why Peru is considered the 2017 top world culinary destination, neither the new Superfoods campaign. It is focused on agricultural exports and development promotion.
