Officials are calculating losses to fruit and other crops in parts of northern Peru battered by torrential rains and heavy winds last month.
Agriculture minister Juan Manuel Benites Ramos has announced a series of measures to help producers and families affected by last week’s flooding of the Huallaga river in San Martín in northern Peru which has left hundreds of hectares of agricultural land under water. The main losses are thought to be to maize and fruit production.
Earlier last month heavy winds destroyed around 800ha of banana production in Zarumilla in the northwestern region of Tumbes. Around 1,000 producers in the zones of Uña de Gato, Papayal and Aguas Verdes were affected.
The Peruvian government is anticipating a slight slowdown in the rate of growth of agricultural exports for the coming year. “At this stage we’re forecasting an increase of at least 17 per cent for 2015,” Benites Ramos said recently.
This compares to a growth rate of 21 per cent in 2014, during which exports reached more than US$5.3bn.
The long-term prospects for Peruvian banana production looks good, however, according to a new report from consultancy firm Maximise.
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