Twelve associations of dehydrated edible fungi (Suillus luteus) producers from the district of Incahuasi, Lambayeque region, market their products in Peru via the Inka Wasi collective mark which was officially presented in this part of the country.
Leonor Torres Bances, the director of the Solidarity Social Studies Center, said that the communities of Incahuasi produced 30 tons of dried edible fungi every year, as the productive season only lasted 6 months, and that they sold it in the markets of Lima, Arequipa, Trujillo and Tacna.
He stated that this nutrient food was obtained by producers in the rural communities of San Isidro Labrador, San Pablo de Incahuasi, and Jose Carlos Mariategui, who carefully and in a sustainable manner collected the fungi so that it could be processed, packaged, and marketed by the community of the 12 associations that make up the collective mark Inka Wasi.
The specialist said they were currently working with two companies from Tacna to send the dried edible fungus from Incahuasi to the German market under the collective mark Inka Wasi.
"The twelve associations have health certificates, a collective mark, tools for trade, 1,222 geo-referenced hectares of pine and a series of processes they have already worked on," she said.
She also said that, despite the demand there was for this food, they were facing a limitation to enter the international market because they needed to standardize production.
Torres Bances said the foreign market demanded more than 10 tons of fungi per month; however, Incahuasi only has production during the rainy months, i.e. four months, and in November and December, "that is to say, we can only enter the market in six months," she said.
"Previously, mushroom growers were uncertain if they would make a profit or lose money, now they obtain a return of up to 100 percent. They are currently selling a kilo of dried mushroom between 18 and 20 soles per kilo, depending on their quality, and the average production costs between 8 and 10 soles," she stated, adding that no other product in Incahuasi achieved this.
Currently, the main market for the dried fungi from Incahuasi is the Tacna region, from where it is sent to Chile.
In search of direct exports
Estimates are that fungi producers will reach the German market in 2017 and triple their revenues.
"The municipality of Incahuasi has developed a project funded by Fondoempleo in the amount of 1,600,000 soles. The goal of municipality is to start producing brined mushrooms through this initiative so as to have two products to enter the foreign market," she said.
The expert said that one of the problems they had to solve was the issue of connectivity, as the bad road conditions made it very difficult to transport this product, especially in the rainy season when the roads collapsed.
Source: andina.com.pe