Farmers from Andahuaylas make first shipment of quinoa and chia to Italy

Thanks to the mission of Italian buyers organized by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism through Peru’s Foreign Trade Office (OCEX) in Milan and the Commission for the Promotion of Peruvian Exports and Tourism (PROMPERÚ), the Machu Picchu Agroindustrial Cooperative of the Peruvian province of Andahuaylas has just made its first quinoa and chia shipment to the Cooperazione Terzo Mundo - CTM Atromercato.

The Machu Picchu cooperative is made up of 500 families from the San Jerónimo, Andapara, Chincheros, José María Arguedas and Andahuaylas districts who make a living from growing quinoa, kiwicha, chia and tarwi, as well as other essentials for personal consumption.

The organization has implemented good corporate governance and agricultural practices in its associates' fields. In order to do this, they received advice from the Italian NGO Cesvi, as part of the Supera Perú cooperation project, which is being carried out with EU funding.

OCEX Milan was in charge of contacting the Italian buyers and PROMPERÚ organized and oversaw their visits to the fields and processing plants located in Ayacucho, Andahuaylas and Lima.

CTM Altromercato is the biggest fair trade chain in Italy, with over 260 points of sale and an annual turnover of more than US$ 50 million. They work in 45 countries with 155 producer organizations, 60,000 craftspeople and over 430,000 farmers.

The chain buys stock directly from producers, whose sustainability practices it directly evaluates and monitors, and so pays more than the market average.

Since 2014 and thanks to the support of OCEX Milan and PROMPERÚ, CTM Altromercato has increased its Peruvian imports, with organizational support and trade missions to identify new suppliers, resulting in a 60% increase in its orders with local producers over the last three years, going from US$ 2.7 million in 2014 to US$ 4.5 million in 2017.

This Italian organization will increase its imports of Peruvian products such as mangoes, avocados, pineapple, cranberries, panela, chestnuts, quinoa, specialty coffees, pepper, herbal teas and energy bars, as well as clothing and crafts, purchased directly from producers.