Export companies welcome new measures, but critics argue that it prioritises corporate interests over labour rights
Peru’s new agrarian law, which narrowly passed its first reading in parliament last week has received a mixed response from the sector.
The initiative includes a series of measures to boost the agricultural sector, including tax breaks for small producers and large companies, along with the promotion of digitalization and technology; regenerative and organic agriculture; and the use of genetic resources and animal welfare
Exporter association Adex and Agap, Association of Agricultural Producers of Peru, have welcomed the reforms, claiming they will encourage much-needed investment in production. But the law has been met with widespread criticism from trade unions and farmers’ organisations.
Gabriel Amaro, president of Agap, told El Comercio: “The benefit is not only economic for the national treasury, but also in terms of attracting foreign currency. We are the second largest export sector and job creator. In other words, what the country gains from a promotional law will be immensely greater than what they will apparently lose”.
Cultivida, a private, non-profit association representing the crop science industry in Peru, said the new law would boost investment, employment, and professionalisation of Peruvian agriculture.
However, the Peruvian National Agricultural Convention (Conveagro), the National Association of Organic Producers of Peru (Anpe Peru), the National Confederation of Workers Peru (CGTP) and the National Agrarian Confederation (CAN) were amongst the organisations who rejected the proposed reforms.
They claim that the new law unfairly allows large exporters to access tax benefits designed for low-income sectors, perpetuating inequality with disproportionate tax incentives and undermining the sustainability of thousands of family producers.
The National Federation of Agroindustry Workers (Fentagro), said the measures “disproportionately favours large agro-exporting groups, especially the ten largest, which account for more than 60 per cent of the export value, while excluding family farming from effective access to benefits, public investment, or proportional tax relief”.
There are fears that if passed, the new law could lead to social unrest among the millions of small-scale family farmers which make up 97 per cent of Peru’s agricultural workforce.
The law is currently awaiting its second reading.
