In Peru's Sacred Valley of Cusco, Quechua farmers like Ruth Flores advance agroecological production to support their families, yet face barriers in accessing markets and fair prices. Through the Provincial Association of Agroecological Producers of Calca (Appac), they demand municipal aid for transport, storage, and healthy eating campaigns. Experts emphasize the need for state investment to tackle rural poverty and foster sustainable development.
Ruth Flores, a 21-year-old Quechua farmer from the rural community of Umachurco in San Salvador, Cusco, grows healthy vegetables in a 100-square-meter greenhouse she received two years ago through a project by the Flora Tristán Center. This initiative, funded by Spain's Basque Cooperation Agency and supported by Mugen Gainetik, aided 80 women from four municipalities in Calca province, offering training in agroecological practices like using animal manure for fertilizer and natural pest control, such as planting garlic beside lettuce to deter insects.
Despite their dedication, Flores and her peers struggle to sell their produce. "With agroecology I'm getting my little daughter ahead because I sell my vegetables, which are healthy, tasty, natural; but we need support from the authorities to have markets and fair prices," says Flores. Umachurco, over 3,500 meters above sea level and home to about 200 small farming families, lacks personal transport and storage facilities, hindering delivery to urban areas.
Martina Santa Cruz, president of the Provincial Association of Agroecological Producers of Calca (Appac)—formed in October 2024 by the 80 participants—details their requests to mayors: assistance with product transport and storage, dedicated market spaces, and campaigns promoting healthy eating and fair prices. "We have asked our mayors to support us. We women from the countryside have changed our way of producing and now we're providing healthy food not only for our families but also for consumers," states Santa Cruz, who balances leadership with raising her children and tending animals in Saccllo, Calca.
Officials have pledged actions, but Appac calls for deeds over words; they already deliver 30 monthly vegetable packages to Calca municipality. In Peru, with 34 million people, rural poverty hit 39% against a national 27% in 2024, worsened by climate change. Physicist and environmentalist Ricardo Giesecke stresses that family farming feeds 60-70% of the population and demands state investment in municipality-regulated transport overseen by the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation. "It can't be that the State is not interested in the commercialization and transportation system," he warns, noting youth migration to mining due to farming's poverty association.
Flores has built trust supplying beets to a Calca pollería and lettuces to a market stall, and joins monthly Cusco fairs with Flora Tristán's help. "It's time for our authorities to show greater willingness to make policies that allow us to take our products out, bring them to markets, and sell them at their real value," she concludes.