In Peru’s Andean highlands, native potato farmers are finding new pathways to sustainable livelihoods through the United Nation- Food and Agriculture Organization’s (UN-FAO) Hand in Hand Initiative, a strategy that places family farmers at the center of rural transformation. By linking small-scale producers to markets, technical support, and strategic investments, the initiative helps communities protect ancestral farming practices while improving incomes and food security. Farmers’ cooperatives in Junín and Huancavelica, long rooted in ecological production and cultural traditions, are now gaining visibility and recognition for the quality and value of their native potatoes.
Through business matchmaking and partnerships facilitated by UN-FAO and national agencies, these farmers have secured fairer contracts with private companies, supermarkets, and food processors such as Tiyapuy. Beyond better prices, the support has strengthened farmers’ confidence, leadership, and long-term vision—turning native potatoes into symbols of dignity, resilience, and opportunity. By “joining hands” across government, communities, and the private sector, the Hand in Hand Initiative is showing how inclusive investment can unlock rural potential and make family farming a cornerstone of sustainable development.
To know more, visit the website of Onda Rural, one of the regional hubs of CCComDev.
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