Recovering-Innovation-Exportation Triangle as an Instrument for Sustainable Development: Proposal for Peruvian Agro-Export Development

Abstract

This study aims to investigate one of the most traditional Peruvian income generators: the agricultural sector, addressing specifically endogenous fruits. Based on sales data related to local and external markets, it is shown that nowadays farmers from several regions and towns have changed the practice of sowing endogenous fruits for the trading of lands and the sowing of other types of products. This has caused the farmer’s economic and social recoil within the agricultural sector. We restrict our study to the case of lucuma (Pouteria Lucuma), an endogenous fruit possessing excellent nutritional properties and exotic flavor that can be used for the production of a variety of products. These features make it an exportable product with great acceptance in international markets, but mainly in its dehydrated form. Therefore, in order to stimulate farmers’ exporting opportunities, it is necessary to transform their products by employing clean technologies that, at the same time, reduce production costs. In this sense, we propose a set of strategies to revitalize the sowing of lucuma in regions where it used to be cultivated, as well as to promote a sustainable business program based on the use of an innovative proposal for hybrid solar dehydration process (dehydration process that preserves the organoleptic properties, which is different from other processes). This will assist the commercialization of farmers’ products in local and international markets, as well as complying with the quality standards required for agro-export.