Milk and Cheese in an Andean Country: What Place for the Peruvian Traditional Subsector Faced with Dairy Industries?

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 1990s, Peruvian milk production has increased greatly. The development of dairy supply chains is linked to the growth of a market protected from importations, and which is expanding because of urban population growth and improvements of the road network. It concerns both small dairy producers and the industrial dairy subsector, which are connected by interdependent and balance of power relations all along the chain. Dairy farmers were surveyed from a technical and economic angle in various regions. Results show that this dairy development brings about major income inequalities among producer types, reflecting an unequal access to resources. Statistical data in the literature and interviews of actors of the Peruvian dairy chains allow to assess the stakes and limits of quality approaches in the small producers’ chain faced with industries. Finally, the article questions the impact of free-trade agreements in which Peru is involved with regard to the domestic dairy subsector, and concludes with political proposals to accompany dairy development.