[2002] ESCOBAL, Javier; AGREDA, Víctor. «Promoting strategic linkages between the farm/non-farm sectors: the peruvian case». En: BENJAMIN, Davis; REARDON, Thomas; STAMOULIS, Kostas G.; WINTERS, Paul. Promoting farm/non-farm linkages for rural development: case studies from Africa and Latin America. Rome: FAO. p. 97-119.

The central objective of this chapter is to analyse the linkages between comercial agriculture and agro-industry in two of the most important agricultural valleys of Peru.

Recent institutional innovations in these regions have altered the relationship between potato, cotton and asparagus farmers and agribusiness. The innovations have centred principally around management experience, a critical factor in producing for agribusiness.

The developments have clearly benefited participating producers, but the direct and indirect effects on employment and consumption patterns in the area are less straightforward; local upstream linkages are weak and indirect effects have largely leaked out of the region. Innovation has tended to accentuate income concentration and capital accumulation among those who are already wealthy.

The exception – smallscale cotton producers – illustrates the possibility of smaller farmers purchasing management experience. «Unfriendly» linkages between the agricultural sector and agro-industry have otherwise forced small agricultural producers to develop a set of off-farm activities that are not linked with the agricultural activity as a strategy to complement their incomes.