Economic development and the region’s competitiveness was one of the topics discussed in the event Rumbo a PERUMIN – Consensus for the progress of Cajamarca, through a panel of specialists with representatives of the public and private sector.

In this respect, Andrés Castro, Director of Sierra Exportadora Cajamarca, emphasized that agriculture is one of the driving forces that deserves special attention to boost social and economic growth in the region.

“92% of agriculture in Cajamarca is the family kind; however, they face low competitive development because they do not have a good level of horizontal and vertical integration, nor access to the financial market or to innovation”, he diagnosed.

Thus, he explained that these scenarios bring around effects such as inequity in the per capita income, the increase of subsistence agriculture and the increase of illegal crops for drug trafficking.

He further alerted that due to the high emigration to the city, the fields are aging and they are running out of people to produce.

In order to face these problems, he proposed to articulate the local governments to promote innovation at productive, institutional, commercial and financial level.

“If we manage to achieve this, we will really have an inclusive and sustainable development in the rural agricultural sector”, he pointed out.

 Farming lands with irrigation problems

In turn, Rodrigo Rumiche, Chief of the Department of Economic Studies of the Central Bank (BCR) in Trujillo, explained that according to the latest agricultural and livestock census, Cajamarca is the third region with the largest farming surface; however, it ranks 14 in irrigated land. “This means, 23.4% of the surface has irrigation, while more than 75% has not. Here it is important to implement irrigation and water storage infrastructure to improve the competitiveness of the farming areas”, he proposed.

Emphasis on human capital with better education

Meanwhile, Edgardo Cruzado, former Chief of the Cabinet of Advisers of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) emphasized that it is necessary to invest in human capital training, focusing on the quality of the educational service through the support of the mining sector.

“The human capital is not only a responsibility of the public sector but also of the private sector. We need persons who are prepared and good infrastructure to access a first-class educational service”, underscored Edgardo Cruzado.

Talent flight due to increased level of conflict

Finally, Emperatriz Campos, General Manager of Ceyca, pointed out that the educational system of Cajamarca is not adapted to the reality of the region, lacks technology and is in urgent need of more specialized human capital.

“In the past 20 years, we have witnessed a huge talent flight due to the level of conflict generated around mining. Today, we wonder in what direction to look at to attract and train the new generations”, she commented.