How Peru Transformed One of the Driest Deserts on the Planet into a Major Food Production Hub

In recent decades, vast fields of blueberries and other fruits have taken over the wide desert plains of Peru's Ica region. Until the 1990s, it was difficult to imagine that this area of ​​the Peruvian coastal desert, which seemed to be nothing but dust and sea, could be transformed into a major center of agricultural production. But that has happened not only here, but also along much of Peru's desert coast, where extensive crops of unconventional fruits such as avocados (or paltas, as they are called in Peru), asparagus, blueberries, and mangoes have flourished. The vast territory that runs parallel to the Pacific Ocean and the Andean mountains has been transformed into a gigantic orchard and the center of a thriving agro-export industry. According to data from the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation, exports of agricultural products in Peru had an average annual increase of 11% between 2010 and 2024, reaching a record figure of US$9.185 billion in 2024