Camposol : A golden opportunity, by Samuel Dyer Coriat

A golden opportunity, by Samuel Dyer Coriat 29/01/2015

The legal framework has allowed to develop and create formal employment in the agricultural sector. Keeping it and promoting labor flexibility is essential for the future of the agricultural sector.

Samuel Dyer Coriat

Although Peru has a millenarian agricultural tradition, it was not until 2000 that the agro-exporting sector managed to have clear and stable game rules, as well as public and private investment. This has made feasible a forgotten sector that has bet for diversification and value-added creation, and today represents the largest opportunity of growth of formal employment in our country. If it is taken into account that 70% of our jobs are informal, the agro-exporting activity appears as a golden opportunity in order an important labor force percentage to have a worthy and formal job.

According to the study "Contribution and impacts of the modern agriculture to the development of Peru" (Contribución e impactos de la agricultura moderna al desarrollo del Perú), prepared by Apoyo Consultoría, ten years ago we only had 56,000 sown hectares.  Today, thanks to the legal framework in force that promoted the private investment, the sown hectares expanded to 96,000. In that same period, the traditional agricultural exports triplicated, while the non-traditional exports quintuplicated with an annual growth of 19% (from US$ 500 to US$ 1,500 million).

Regarding employment, more than 1.5 million new formal and direct jobs -and more than 2.3 million related jobs- have been created between 1999 and 2010, which has surpassed other economic activities by 40% as to the number of employed people. On the other hand, the income of formal agricultural employees is also increasing because most of them gain in average above the minimum wage. Likewise, the extreme poverty incidence in field workers decreased; modern agriculture could generate one million additional jobs within the ten next years if the current legal and juridical stability remains this way.

Moreover, the private sector is betting for investing in an uncertain nature area given the climate and regulatory risks it faces. In the last few years, the sector has embraced state-of-the-art technology and good practices, and has focused on developing and diversifying products. The sector has integrated small farmers to the agro-exporting chain, has improved the use of land and water, and has increased productivity. Likewise, it has jumped to the search for new international markets in order to position as a worldwide food supplier.

The State has also proposed to achieve very ambitious goals as, according to the Ceplan, 300,000 new hectares of farming lands will be incorporated for 2021. For that, the completion of irrigation projects such as Olmos (Lambayeque), Chavimochic (La Libertad), Majes Siguas (Arequipa), Chinecas (Áncash), among other, which imply huge challenges to institutionality and local and regional public management, is expected. If to this we add the lack of trained labor, the insufficiency in educational, health, transportation and logistical infrastructure, the volatility of the rate of exchange, among other issues, the scenario of this sector can become vulnerable.

Public and private sectors must thus work together to successfully deal with these challenges and take this sole development opportunity for thousands of Peruvians. For that, it is required to persist in legal stability and flexibility of working conditions to promote private investment in this sector in order it to be able to accompany the challenges the State faces. An amendment in the legal framework in force will not allow to achieve the generation of employment that underlie the agro-exporting activity, which will make us waste a unique opportunity to increase formal employment in our country. Let's get to work to accompany the agricultural industry progress in our country. No time to waste.