Agricultural history of Peru
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The agricultural history of Peru includes agriculture, cultivation of plants and herbs and general changes in the history of farming in Peru or its historical regions.
Pre-history
Much of the
In wet periods many cultures thrived along the rivers. The
A study reported that crops of
Humboldt current
Peru is both afflicted and blessed by a peculiar climate due to the
Many obstacles limited Peru's agricultural production. Peru has always been rich in
The road system is underdeveloped in Peru, e.g., offering no connection to neighboring Brazil. Only a little over a quarter of the 15th-century Inca road system has been modernized. Another obstacle is the large size of Peru's informal economy. This prevents Peru from relying on an income tax to run the government. Much of its revenue instead comes from a 13% tax on gross agricultural sales. This squeezes Peruvian farmers who must compete with farmers in countries that tax farmers on net profit. No profit, no tax.
Twenty-first century Peru grows agricultural commodities such as asparagus, potatoes, maize, rice, quinoa and coffee.[3] Peru provides half of the world supply of quinoa.[4] Peruvian agriculture uses synthetic fertilizers rather than still-abundant guano due to infrastructure issues. Peruvian maize is not exportable due to large producer subsidies in Europe and the United States. Coffee is exportable, because little is grown in those countries. In recent years Peru has become the world's primary source of high-quality organic coffee.[5] Peru does not have a quality control program such as Kenya's, but its government has worked to educate farmers on how to improve quality. Despite the glut of coffee in the market today, coffee production in Peru's unusual high altitudes and partial shade allows Coffea arabica to flourish, and it has much more of such land available than competitors such as Jamaica and Hawaii.
Aqueducts and terraces
The ancient people of Peru built water-moving and preserving technologies like the
Another technique used for farming was
However, by the mid-19th century, only 3% of Peru's land was still farmable. It lagged behind many other South American countries in agriculture.
Guano
In the 19th century the
Peru lost its guano reserves to Chile (backed by the British Empire) in the War of the Pacific.[12] By the late 19th century, 50% of the Peruvian government's revenue was going to pay off loans that had been guaranteed with guano sources taken by Chile - these debts were eventually paid by sending all the remaining guano to France when it was preparing for war. The Germans invented the Haber process shortly after the outbreak of World War I, after which guano became almost worthless.
As Peru's guano reserves began to run out, the government restricted the guano industry to help stabilize the supplies. The collapse of Peru's bird population after the collapse of the fishery limited future supply of the fertilizer.[10]
Current production
Peru is one of the 5 largest producers of avocado, blueberry, artichoke and asparagus, one of the 10 largest producers in the world of coffee and cocoa, one of the 15 largest producers in the world of potato and pineapple, and also has a considerable production of grape, sugarcane, rice, banana, maize and cassava; its agriculture is considerably diversified.[13]
In 2018, Peru produced 10.3 million tons of
Peruvian agricultural products
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Potato plants
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Maize ears
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Rice field
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Rice plants
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Flowering coffee tree
References
- ^ Davidson, Nick (2 March 2005). "Lost society tore itself apart". BBC News. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
- ^ "Peanuts, cotton, squash first farmed in Peru 6,000-10,000 years ago". Mongabay.com. Archived from the original on 29 January 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
- ^ "The World Factbook - South America :: Peru". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Statistics. Archived from the originalon 1 April 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
- ^ "Peru: Organic Products Update 2008" Archived 2012-10-18 at the Wayback Machine. USDA Foreign Agricultural Service Global Agriculture Information Network. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
- ^ a b Sayer 1999, p. 10.
- ^ Wood 1996, p. 4.
- ^ Sayer, page 25.
- ^ Wood 1996, p. 18.
- ^ a b Leonard, Andrew."When guano imperialists ruled the earth". Salon.com. Retrieved 7 January 2010. Archived 4 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Straw, Annelise; Sis/Ba '18; Sis/Ma '19. "American University, Washington, D.C." American University. Archived from the original on 15 January 2010. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) The Inventory of Conflict & Environment (ICE). - ^ "War of the Pacific 1879-1884" Archived 2005-03-10 at the Wayback Machine. Wars of the World*. Retrieved 7 January 2009.
- ^ Peru en 2018, by FAO
- ^ Peru production in 2018, by FAO
Sources
- Sayer, Chloë (1999). The Incas. Raintree Steck-Vaughn. OCLC 38055933.
- Wood, Tim (1996). The Incas. Viking. OCLC 1089520927.