Arjan Brouwer, Manager Latin America for the Dutch company Kiremko, one of the three most important manufacturers of industrial potato processing equipment in the world, visited Peru, attracted by the market possibilities for potato in the country. He was in Lima and said that the native yellow potato was probably the best potato variety he had ever tasted.
He explained that it took the Netherlands 50 years to develop its potato processing industry and to reach the current level of sophistication in the potato supply chain. Hence it will take time too for Peru if they wish to seriously develop the potato industry.
Rather than only selling the technology package, the Dutch representative said that they developed a strategic plan for the development of the potato agro-industry.
The National Council for Science and Technology (Concytec) took a leading role in driving the development of the potato industry by bringing together the Chamber of Machinery Manufacturers and Technology Development of Peru (CAFATEC), a consortium of companies that build machinery for industrial use, to develop in alliance with Kiremko the processing machinery needed to develop the automated techniques for washing and packing, as well as the know-how for storage of potatoes.
"The way forward for the potato industry is still very hard", admitted the president of CORPAPA - the National Coordinator for Potato Producers, Edilberto Soto Tenorio. However, he said that today there are advances in native potatoes that were previously unseen in the Lima market, such as for example the cucumber potato, Q'ompis.