Peru’s ‘fast and furious’ blueberry boom
-
Loading... - Cortez Sancha
- 01 May 2023
- 72 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
"I arrived at this farm without knowing what a blueberry plant was," says Aurelio Ortiz.
A farming supervisor, Mr Ortiz is speaking as he oversees the harvest at Sunberries Field, a blueberry plantation in the south of Peru.
This blueberry farm is one of many that have cropped up along the South American country's flat, hot coastal region. It has been an agricultural boom that has taken Peru from having virtually zero blueberry plantations to becoming the world's largest exporter in only a decade.
It is a sunny day, and six labourers are spread across the field collecting the last of the blueberries that still crown the bushes. The workers are defying the heat with long sleeves, hats and headscarves to protect their skin from the blazing sun.
Most of them were not familiar with blueberries until a few years ago, when the fruit started replacing more traditional crops like grapes, cotton and asparagus.
"Ten years ago we saw blueberries as something impossible to grow here," says Alvaro Espinoza, an agricultural engineer and the owner of Sunberries Field.
,
Alvaro Espinoza is one of the first producers who started growing blueberries in Peru
Back then he had tried to secure investment from Peruvian businesspeople, but they declined, saying it was not possible to grow blueberries in Peru's coastal heat. This is because the plants typically require a certain number of days per year with cold temperatures. Read More…
