In 2015, AGROIDEAS co-financed a business plan (S /.165,828.00) based on the adoption of technology that significantly improved fruit production yields, going from 4kg per plant in 2015 to 7.5kg per year in 2017. As a result, the area is now producing 270 tons of cape gooseberries a year.
Before the execution of the project, producers cultivated cape gooseberries in an artisanal way and with their own resources. The plants were grown in orchards, mostly for self-consumption. Part of the support of the MINAGRI through AGROIDEAS, was to provide technical assistance that allowed them to have a correct agronomic management of the fruit to increase their productivity.
They were equipped with a truck with 4 tons of capacity that they could use to transport the fruit to the city of Ayacucho to be marketed in local and regional fairs. They were also given a 10kg electronic scale and two 300kg scales, a toolkit for crop and harvest management, as well as materials for the installation and implementation of nurseries to increase their productive areas.
Export projection
The expansion of the cape gooseberry crops in the district of Vinchos, through the introduction of its seed in areas previously devoted to starchy corn, has generated many permanent jobs and incomes to its inhabitants, many of whom lived in conditions of extreme poverty.
At present, their product is being exported through the GB Organic SAC company to different countries, such as Germany, Denmark, and Spain. However, they are still in the process of obtaining organic certification with a view to export the fruit directly.
MINAGRI, through AGROIDEAS, promotes cooperation, the strengthening of business management, and the adoption of agricultural technologies for the sustainability of small and medium producers, providing them with development alternatives in order to make their agricultural production competitive and profitable.