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March of Producers from the Sierra in Piura |
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Posted: May 10, 2006
Piura, Peru - April 25th, 2006: Handing out oranges, bananas and organic sugar, 2000 producers participated yesterday in a peaceful march that showed the advances that the Peruvian Sierran producers are making with regards to exports.
Producers shouted out slogans such as: “The Sierra is not for sale” and “Defend the Sierra, Don’t Sell it!”.
The Sierra of Piura comprises approximately one-third of the land area of the Piuran Department. This area is the source of the Chira and Huancabamba Rivers which provide water for agricultural activities and service the coastal populations. However, even though water is such a scarce resource, it is not properly valued.
Other topics of concern for the population in the Sierra are the lack of roads, education and health services.
In 2002, the road system in Piura Department reached 4,404.4 Km: 23% are asphalted roads located mostly along the coast, 9% are paved roads in rural areas, 10% are unpaved roads and 58% are nothing more than dirt trails, the majority of these trails are located in our Sierra. This is not acceptable because there are small villages and settlements throughout this region that are without access or means of communication.
Axel Roads
Since 1997, we have been asking for the construction of Coastal-Sierran roads, such as the 65 Km of highways that connect Buenos Aires – Huancabamba and Morropón – Chalaco – Pacaipampa, which itself is still not completely finished.
The proposal is to construct a longitudinal road of the Sierra and Andean axis.
“We ask the Regional Government to consider building roads that will allow us to transport our products: this is real decentralization,” said Wilfredo Lópes, from Appagrof of San Isidro de Canchaque.
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Education and Health
He also said that educational services were deficient both in infrastructure as well as in teachers’ training; school absenteeism and illiteracy rates are far too high.
Livestock is another topic that does not appear to be on the Regional Government’s agenda. Despite the fact that 65% of the 221 thousand heads of bovine cattle and 55% of the 170 thousand head of hogs in the Piura Department are located in the Sierra, the government puts little attention to animal sanitation programs or market access for cattle producers.
So the producers are asking that the Vaso de Leche (Glass of Milk) Program purchase its milk from the Sierra Producers, not just to make the economy more dynamic.
Regional Government
The Sierra has been contributing to the agro-industrial development of the region through the exportation of its organic coffee and sugar, and is also a source of foreign currency due to the exports of these products, however the government concentrates its investment in infrastructure and export services only to the coastal areas.
“For this reason we request that the Regional Government attend to our fair demands that will allow us to improve the quality of life for the populations in the Sierra and especially ask that they respect the decision of the population to choose the development model that works best for themselves,” said Segundo Guerrero, President of CEPICAFE, the Organization of Piuran Coffee Producers. |
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Farmer Partners 
