(Langtitel): Peru. Agriculture, rural development and the international financial crisis (Kurztitel): Only affected indirectly Augusto Cavassa Innovación para el Desarrollo Lima, Peru acavassa@terra.com.pe A large proportion of Peru's population is concentrated in the mountain areas. Economic growth in the last few years has not had any substantial effect on reducing poverty in the rural highlands, where almost 70 percent of the population lives below the poverty line; it is hoped that the economic downturn as a result of the current global crisis will have an equally negligible effect. Latin American countries are finding they are less affected by the crisis than other parts of the world (Trivelli, C., Yancari, Y. and De los Ríos, Carlos, …ver más…

Dual residence is characteristic of many farming families and is a subject of national debate. All the above relates to the trading sector of the economy, which would indicate that the global financial crisis will not filter down so easily to the rural sector, where families operate protective mechanisms based on their own strategies for diversifying earnings and securing food. Consequently, the crisis may have little direct impact on the rural sector and on the poorest families. Agricultural sustainability in rural areas

Unlike what is happening in other Latin American countries, most farming land in Peru belongs to small family farming units, generally classified as “peasant households”. Moreover, there are also the lands of 5,860 peasant and native communities who control 40 percent of the total land used for crops and livestock and represent 2.5 million Peruvians, i.e. 40 percent of the country’s rural population. Agriculture is the principal generator of employment in Peru; it is estimated that 10 million individuals live off the land and they supply food to the country’s towns and cities. At present, 6 out of every 10 tons of food consumed originates from small farmers (Oxfam International