The Konrad Adenauer Stiftung together with the SNI organized the conference Regional Development of Piura: Challenges and Opportunities
Piura has great export potential in fishing and aquaculture, but must combat illegal fishing and modernize its infrastructure
PERU
Friday, September 13, 2024, 12:00 (GMT + 9)
- The SNI and Konrad Adenauer organized a forum where proposals were presented to promote industries and the CHD fishing sector in Piura.
- The industry was the main economic sector of Piura in 2023, contributing 24.3% of its GDP
Lima - Piura has enormous economic export potential, especially in the fishing sector for direct human consumption (CHD), and is the fourth region in the country with the greatest contribution to the national industry. However, it also presents challenges such as a high rate of monetary poverty (33.1%), as well as labor informality (75.5%), in addition to being threatened by foreign illegal fishing and lacking adequate logistics infrastructure.
To address this situation and propose proposals focused on the growth of the region in the coming years, the National Society of Industries (SNI), together with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Peru, held the forum “Regional Development of Piura: Challenges and Opportunities”, which had as speakers the president of the Fishing and Aquaculture Committee of the SNI, Alfonso Miranda, and the economic affairs analyst Alejandro Indacochea.
At the opening of the event, the president of the SNI headquarters in Piura, David Epstein, highlighted the importance of public investment, as well as private investment, both national and foreign, for the development of the region. “We must be attractive to investors by balancing economic profitability with social profitability,” he added.
Also participating in the forum aimed at Piuran businessmen were the representative of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Peru, Robert Helbig, and the general manager of the Association of Agroindustrial Producers of Piura (APAG), Armando Rivera.
Fishing and its impact on employment
Alfonso Miranda highlighted that fishing for direct human consumption (CHD) and aquaculture generate around 150,000 direct jobs, of which 40% are female. “If indirect jobs are added, there are more than one million jobs, especially in the regions,” stressed the union leader, adding that more than 90% of the hydrobiological resources that are processed for direct human consumption come from artisanal farming, which is why it is important to formalize this sector.
Regarding aquaculture in Piura, he specified that this activity has great potential in the region, since in 2023 the shrimp harvest covered 46.4% of the total aquaculture in the region (with 4,012 MT), followed by scallop with 46.3% (3279 MT) and tilapia with 7.2% (557 MT).
He also pointed out that, if measures are taken for the sector, by 2030 exports could double and reach US$ 3.5 billion in shipments, and generate 100 thousand additional, formal and decentralized jobs. “We can reach or surpass Chile and Ecuador, which today export more than us,” said Miranda, not without first warning that one of the main obstacles to achieving this goal is illegal fishing by Chinese vessels, in addition to not having artisanal fishing landing stages in good condition.
The future of industries
Alejandro Indacochea focused his presentation on the challenges and opportunities offered to companies by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, nanotechnology, biotechnology, robotics, all come together, which must be adopted by organizations. “Humanity is going to change more in the next 20 years than in the entire history of man,” he said.
In these circumstances, he recommended that Piuran businessmen not cut expenses indiscriminately without an adequate evaluation or focus exclusively on the short term. Nor should they reduce the quality of customer service or the amount allocated to profitable activities or to investment in human capital training, and much less avoid fair negotiations with suppliers, distributors and customers.
Industry data in Piura
The average annual growth rate of Piura, between 2014 and 2023, was 1.5% (lower than the 2.1% that has been the national rate in the indicated period), while its manufacturing sector has had levels of growth and declines similar to that of the national industry, except for the year 2023.
In 2023, the industry of the Piura region had a growth of 22.9%, contrary to the 6.7% drop of the sector in the national economy, driven mainly by the greater production of canned and frozen squid and the production of sugar. This dynamism positioned industrial activity as the main economic sector in 2023 in the region, contributing 24.3% of its GDP.
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