
For more than a decade, Peruvian agriculture has been moving towards modernity, today having highly technified crops like fruits, vegetables, palm, sugar cane, among others.
Sharing the productive activity with high quality products such as coffee and cocoa, as well as with various crops in all the regions and valleys of the country, which are fundamental inputs of our gastronomy and highly recognized throughout the world.
Nowadays agriculture is the second export sector of Peru far reaching more than 86 countries on five continents. But perhaps one of the greatest impacts of Peruvian agriculture is the generation of sustainable employment in many regions of the country; and the creation of more formal jobs that as a whole are contributing to poverty reduction, the inclusion of women, the decentralization of the country and the economic development of Peru.
However, in recent months, all Peruvians have seen astonished as the rot of corruption, which for years had taken root as an infamous business model in Brazil, discovered its tentacles in several countries in the region. Unfortunately, our country was not the exception.
Corruption affects all Peruvians, this misuse of the government to obtain a particular benefit, ends up been paid by us all, not only the State. Corruption is one of the biggest problems our country is facing and it threatens the possibilities of progress of citizens, seriously affecting the growth and development of economic sectors and dent the trust of businessmen and honest entrepreneurs investing in Peru .
But how does corruption affect economic growth? For example, in Agriculture, with the paralysis of one of the most impressive irrigation projects in the country: Stage III of the Chavimochic Irrigation; that includes the construction of the Palo Redondo Dam with a capacity of 400 million cubic meters, and the canalization works that will incorporate more than 63,000 hectares of new land into agricultural sector, increasing the irrigated area of the in La Libertad region in 47,000 hectares.
This work has been paralyzed since November of 2016, so hundreds of thousands of new hectares will not be incorporated into the production and export of Peruvian agricultural products, thousands of jobs will not be generated, thousands of Peruvians will not be able to leave poverty behind, thousands of small, medium and large agrarian producers will stop generating wealth and millions of dollars of foreign exchange and taxes will stop being received by the Peruvian State, ultimately slowing the country’s economic growth.
Let’s not let this happen, the country must continue to boost its productive capacity!
Added to all this, we cannot fail to mention that corruption also manifests itself in various ways: through the usurpation and traffic of public and private lands, the theft of water, among others, undermining the rule of law.
Corruption represents a great challenge for all Peruvians because of the enormous moral, social and economic damage that we will have to reverse. The authorities of the Government and the Judicial Power must act quickly, without hesitation and with the force that the law gives them, to punish these acts of corruption in an exemplary manner.
But it is also an urgent task of the current Government to take “the bull by the horns” and continue promoting the investments of all the infrastructure projects that the country requires through concessions and private-public partnerships.
Currently, there are several productive infrastructure projects that are very important for the country that need to be completed: for example, the Olmos Project urgently requires the completion of the access road of about 120 km, the increase in storage capacity of water from the Limón Dam, the works to provide water to about 5 thousand hectares in the “Valle Viejo” and the new City of Olmos; works that will benefit hundreds of producers and thousands of Peruvians.
But the task goes further, we must restore the ethics and reputation of the country, damaged by the corrupted public officials and by those badly called businessmen, involved in these criminal acts. This is a duty and responsibility of us all.
AGAP entrepreneurs are committed to this fight against corruption and we will continue to collaborate with the State in a frank and transparent manner, promoting honest investments, spreading good business practices and investing and trusting in our beautiful Peru.
August 7, 2017
By: Gabriel Amaro, Executive Director AGAP