By IANS
Lima : Peruvian coffee is seeking its place in the international market with a seal of quality backed by 10 years of sustained production.
Not a traditional part of the diet in this Andean nation, Peruvian coffee is grown in the tropical forest region, at altitudes of between 800 metres and 2,000 metres on the eastern slopes of the Andes, the Spanish news agency EFE said.
In this area, some 150,000 families grow the grain, accounting for 90 percent of national coffee production.
Their dedication to coffee growing, which provided a way of overcoming the trials of the 20-year civil war that ravaged Peru, has given the commodity a prominent role in the national economy.
And in a market led by Brazil, the world’s largest coffee producer, and Colombia, which prides itself on the quality of its grains, Peru has found a niche as the leading producer of organic coffee.
Last year, Peruvian growers produced more than five million quintals (100-pound sacks) of coffee, the largest volume since the industry took off 15 years ago, allowing the Andean nation to compete in the market for the second-largest commodity in the world after oil.
Coffee, in fact, became the top Peruvian agricultural export in the past decade, with the US, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland the main destinations for the grain among the 36 countries that purchase this commodity.
Providing a livelihood for some two million Peruvians, coffee is grown on about 330,000 hectares across the country and about 70 companies export the grain.
Due to the growth in volume, the industry is now seeking recognition for the quality of its coffee, which is grown in the various microclimates and altitudes of the Andean country’s territory.
In an effort to promote Peruvian coffee, for the third year in a row, the National Coffee Council and other organizations are sponsoring a nationwide contest that seeks to lay the foundation for the “Cafe del Peru” brand. The competition, which will end in the jungle city of Tingo Maria in October, will include the 10 best national tasters and an international jury.
Not everyone is optimistic, however, with some experts saying that the age of the coffee plants, many of them more than 20 years old, could pose problems for Peru.
Peruvian Coffee and Cacao Association chief Luis Navarro said the aging plants would lead to a drop of 25 percent in production this year approximately four million quintals than in 2006. Navarro said the drop in output was also due to the fact that the production cycle of these plants was biannual, with a good year being followed by one slightly worse.
Peru’s coffee industry has its roots in the work of the British, French, Italian and Tyrolean immigrants who arrived here in the late 19th century and pioneered coffee growing in the Andean nation. These immigrants lived through the coffee boom and were behind the first exports to Europe, mainly to Britain and Germany, between 1891 and 1895. Through domestic crises and international depressions in the industry, the successors to Peru’s first coffee growers are toiling today to play a role in the global market.