Public and private institutions from Peru have announced a scheme aimed at more than tripling the production of peppers by 2028, in a bid to lift what is currently the Andean country's sixth-largest agro-industrial export.

The Capsicum Sustainable Development Plan 2018-2018 is set to be published today in Peru's Diario Oficial, with the goal of raising productivity and competitiveness in both bell peppers and chile peppers.

"This will become the road map for promoting its production and presence in other countries," Association of Exporters (ADEX) president Juan Varilias Velásquez said in a release.

"The plan - lead by public and private entities such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Promperú and Adex, among others - proposes diverse strategic actions aimed at strengthening the sector's chain so that in 2028 the production of bell peppers and chiles will be at 500,000 [metric] tons (MT)," Varilias Velásquez said.

This would represent a significant jump from the 160,000MT that is currently produced each year. 

Chile pepper varieties like Rocoto (photo courtesy of Amazon UK) and Amarillo (headline) are an essential part of Peru's rich culinary heritage. Do they have potential overseas?

He said actions would include improving the productive process, varietal innovation and developing campaigns to promote consumption both at home and abroad; the latter will be done by supporting growers in finding opportunities offered by overseas markets. 

"Last year exports reached US$249 million, but considering international demand exceeds US$11 billion, it's clear that we should strengthen yields and add new varieties, given that would generate income for growers," the export sector representative said.

"In Peru we have a lot of agricultural families who we want to integrate into the export chain, and at ADEX we're working on that hand in hand with Minagri (Ministry of Agriculture)," he said.

The announcement was made at ADEX-backed event the International Capsicum Convention in Arequipa. 

Headline photo: Amarillo pepper, courtesy of Wikimedia Creative Commons

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