The vast desert plains of the Ica region of Peru have given way in recent decades to vast plantations of blueberries and other fruits.
Until the 1990s, it was difficult to imagine that this area of Peru’s coastal desert, where at first glance there is little more than dust and sea, could be transformed into a major center of agricultural production.
But that’s exactly what happened not only there, but also across much of the Peruvian desert coast, where large plantations of the region’s non-traditional fruits, like mangoes, blueberries, and avocados, grew.
The immense strip that crosses the country, parallel to the waves of the Pacific and the Andean heights, has become an immense orchard and the epicenter of a thriving agro-export industry.
According to data from the Peruvian Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation, Peruvian agricultural exports increased, between 2010 and 2024, at an annual average of 11%, reaching a record of $9.185 million in 2024.
During these years, Peru became the world’s largest exporter of grapes and blueberries, a fruit that was almost not produced in the country before 2008.
And its ability to produce on a large scale during the seasons when it is most difficult in the northern hemisphere, has allowed the country to consolidate itself as one of the great agro-exporting powers and one of the main suppliers to the United States, Europe, China and other markets.
But what are the consequences? Who benefits? And is this boom in Peruvian agricultural exports sustainable?
How it all started
The process that would lead to the development of Peru’s agro-export industry began in the 1990s, when the government of then-President Alberto Fujimori promoted sweeping reforms to revive a country hit by years of economic crisis and hyperinflation.
“The groundwork was done to reduce tariff barriers, promote foreign investment in Peru and reduce administrative costs for businesses. The aim was to boost sectors that had export potential,” César Huaroto, an economist at the Peruvian University of Applied Sciences, told BBC Mundo, the BBC’s Spanish-language service.
“At first the focus was on the mining sector, but by the end of the century a business elite emerged who saw the potential of the agricultural export sector.”
But more favorable laws and good intentions are not enough.
Large-scale agriculture in Peru has traditionally faced obstacles such as the low soil fertility of the Amazon jungle and the rugged geography of the Andean mountains.
Ana Sabogal, an expert in plant ecology and anthropogenic changes in ecosystems at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, explained that “private investments by large farmers, who are less risk averse than small farmers, have facilitated technical innovations such as drip irrigation and the development of irrigation projects.”
The solution to the problem of water scarcity in the desert allowed people to start farming in a region where agriculture was not traditionally considered possible, and to exploit its unique climatic conditions, which experts describe as a “natural greenhouse.”
“The region had no water, but with water it became a very fertile land,” explains Huaroto.
All this, added to genetic innovations, such as that which allowed the local cultivation of blueberries, allowed Peru to incorporate large extensions of its coastal desert into the cultivable area, which increased by around 30%, according to Sabogal’s estimates.
“This is a surprising and enormous increase in agribusiness,” says the expert.
Today, regions like Ica and Piura, in the north of the country, have become important centers of agricultural production, and agro-exports are one of the driving forces of the Peruvian economy.
What were the consequences?
According to the Association of Exporters (ADEX), agricultural exports represented 4.6% of Peruvian gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024, compared to only 1.3% in 2020.
The economic and environmental impact has been significant and ambivalent.
Supporters point to economic benefits, but critics point to environmental costs, such as high water consumption in areas where water is scarce and supply is not guaranteed.
The economist César Huaroto carried out a study to assess the boom agro-exporter on the coast of Peru.
“One of the things we discovered is that the agro-export industry has acted as a driver of the local economy, increasing the level of skilled employment in large areas, where informality previously predominated, and recording an increase in the average income of workers,” he said.
However, this does not benefit everyone equally.
“Small, independent farmers have a harder time finding workers because wages are higher and they also have more difficulty accessing the water they need for their crops.”
In fact, agribusiness exports appear to be replacing traditional methods of working in the fields and changing the social and property structure in large areas of Peru.
“Many small landowners realize that their land is no longer profitable and therefore sell it to large companies,” says Huaroto.
However, according to the economist, “even small farmers are satisfied because agribusiness gives work to their family members.”
The water problem
In recent years, the benefits of exporting agricultural products to the country have increasingly been questioned.
But the main target of criticism is water.
“In a context of water shortage, in which a significant part of the Peruvian population does not have running water at home, the debate around the agricultural export industry is increasingly intense,” underlines Huaroto.
Local activist Rosario Huayanca told the BBC that “in Ica there is a conflict over water, because there is not enough for everyone.”
In an arid region like this, the issue of water has long been controversial.
As it hardly rains in Ica, much of the water comes from underground.
While many human settlements must make do with water arriving in tankers and store it to meet their needs, large areas growing crops for export benefit from a guaranteed supply through wells located on their properties and priority access to irrigation water, transported from the neighboring Huancavelica region.
“In theory, it is forbidden to dig new wells, but when employees of the National Water Authority (ANA) arrive to inspect large exporters, they refuse access, claiming that it is private property,” explains Huayanca.
In 2011, the ANA implemented what it described as “a rigorous process of monitoring and inspection” of the use of the underground aquifer that provides much of Ica’s water, given the “looming problem of groundwater overexploitation, which is causing a continued decline in groundwater levels in the region.”
But apparently the problem persists and local small farmers are facing signs that the aquifer is depleting.
“Before, it was enough to dig five meters, but now you have to reach a depth of 100 meters for water to appear,” explains Huayanca.
“Small farmers complain that they are forced to pay a lot for water, while large properties have reservoirs and large reservoirs, the water from which is optimized using technologically advanced irrigation systems,” he explains.
BBC Mundo contacted ANA and Peru’s Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation for comment on the situation, but received no response.
In this region are grown the grapes used to produce the famous pisco, a brandy whose fame has become a source of national pride for Peruvians, but even this is called into question.
“Some criticize the fact that grapes are essentially water with sugar and that if you export grapes and their derivatives, you are exporting water,” Sabogal points out.
In Ica, the challenge is to make sustainable agro-industry thrive, while meeting the needs of the population.
“Every election we talk about it, but the solutions never arrive. We have to figure out how to make Ica’s economy sustainable in the long term, because without water the economy will collapse,” says Huayanca.
The challenge, in fact, concerns the entire Peruvian agro-export sector.
“The current situation is not sustainable in the long term. It is great that there is an agricultural export industry, because it generates income, but only as long as the amount of water needed by the population and ecosystems is allocated,” says Sabogal.
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