Peru: Urban Agri-Food Systems could recover up to 17% of food wasted in the harvesting process

It is estimated that only in potato cultivation could enough be recovered to feed up to more than 50,000 people. Food insecurity, a persistent problem at a global level, has been intensified in recent years by the effect of the pandemic and the socioeconomic reality of each country. In the case of Peru, the city of Metropolitan Lima continues to experience sustained population growth in peripheral areas, generally unplanned, where food insecurity increased from 13.5% to 20.5% between 2014 and 2021. In light of this scenario, the International Potato Center (CIP) has focused its efforts on the analysis of Urban Agri-Food Systems as an alternative to combat food insecurity, based on its research obtained in Africa and Asia for the benefit of Peru. This is how the pilot initiative “Food Recovery in the Valley” was born, which has brought together the CIP together with the Consortium for Health, Environment and Development (ECOSAD), the National Agrarian University-La Molina (UNALM), ...