Sierra Exportadora (today Sierra y Selva Exportadora) launched the Peru Berries program in November 2011. The blueberry is the program's most outstanding product. So much so that, in just 10 years, Peru has become the world's leading exporter of blueberries.
Engineer Alfonso Velásquez Tuesta, who was the president of Sierra Exportadora between 2011 and 2018, said that, despite having read about the growing demand for blueberries in the northern hemisphere long ago, he wasn't well aware of it until 2010, when the General Directorate for the Promotion of Chilean Exports (Pro Chile) invited him to an internship to learn about the world of berries.
“When I arrived in Chile, the international consultant in the berry market, Felipe Rosas (who later advised Sierra Exportadora and the Peru Berries program) had prepared a tour that allowed me to visit various locations in the south of that country. There, I saw the level of investment there was in this crop, which included the participation of small associated producers. This was my approach to the world of berries.”
“In 2011, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (PCM) launched a promotional policy based on what we had learned in Chile and the perspective we had to socialize blueberries, which allowed the private sector to make decisions. Furthermore, Peru Berries' proposal coincided with an incipient presence of nurseries of Chilean origin that promoted said cultivation," he stated.
“The trust in the proposal of a State institution, the faith that we put in it, the entrepreneur's need to find a new and profitable crop that allowed them to think in extensive cultivation, and the press generated the right atmosphere to promote this crop. People were speaking about blueberries enthusiastically, so little by little entrepreneurs tried this crop more until there was a fever for this fascinating fruit," he stated.
Our greatest achievement was launching a crop with family farming in mind, as blueberries are for small, medium, and large producers. The model allowed this proposal to be successful and showcased the investment capacity of the Peruvian business in a profitable crop.
Peru will export nearly 211,000 tons of fresh blueberries for more than 1.2 billion dollars in the 2021/2022 campaign, i.e. 30% more volume than in the previous campaign when the country exported 162,500 tons for 1,001,963,224 dollars. Small producers account for 25% of all blueberry exports.
Source: agraria.pe
