Peru was represented at the FAO Workshop on NWFP in Latin America and the Caribbean, Santiago, Chile 1994 (FAO 1995b). A comprehensive three-part country report was presented by César A. Barriga Ruiz, Yolanda Guzmán Guzmán and Alejandro Gómez Silvera. Although there exist a few data gaps, discussed below, it can be said with confidence that all NWFP for which statistics are collected were included. The accompanying table contains 29 entries.
12.2 Non-wood goods and services
Of all the South American countries, Peru exhibits the greatest physical diversity and hence a full compliment of NWFP. The most important products are as follows:
Peru’s rich natural and cultural landscapes make it a popular tourism destination. The country has 22 protected areas which combined total 4,3 million ha. Five of the protected areas are national parks (IUCN 1982). There are also two indigenous peoples’ communal reserves: Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo and Yanisha, which are the Peruvian equivalent of extractive reserves (Ruiz Pérez 1993).
The value of all Peru’s NWFP does not appear to have been estimated, no doubt because of the difficulty of calculating the levels of subsistence use of many of the products. However, export figures from the early 1990s place the value of exports at US$22,25 million (FAO 1995b). Although there are no production or commercial value data available on bamboo, resins, tannins, essential oils, spice, gums, mushrooms and honey, examples of each are identified and discussed in the FAO Workshop proceedings (FAO 1995b).
12.3.1 Ornamental plants
Orchids appear to be the only one of Peru’s ornamental plants for which data are gathered; in 1991 production was 285 kg, exported and valued at US$6 014.
12.3.2 Fodder
Algarrobo is a very important fodder source in the coastal desert. An estimated 2 million t of fruit were produced in the early 1990s.
12.3.3 Fiber
Nine native fiber sources were reported for 1991. Cabuya reported 1 680 kg of fiber, junco 80 175 kg, toquilla 20 000 kg and piasaba 654 871 kg; totora reported 2 748 t of fiber; the following reported production by units: carrizo 4,9 million, caña brava 2,1 million, caña guada 104 000, and carricillo 11 800.
12.3.4 Latex
Peru recorded a small quantity (62 784 kg) of natural rubber production in 1991.
12.3.5 Medicine
Barbasco and curare are major medicinal plants with 1991 production of 70 729 kg and 62 784 kg, respectively. Rataria root production that year amounted to 20,5 t. Medicinal plant exports totaled US$1,8 million in 1991.
12.3.6 Fruits
Peru is one of the few countries with data on wild fruit production. The aguaje palm is very common in Amazonian Peru with great subsistence use; nevertheless, production is given as 11 020 kg in 1991. Umari fruit production is recorded as 1 000 kg in 1991, a major understatement. 5 790 kg of pijuayo were recorded as produced in cultivation in 1997.
12.3.7 Nuts
Wild Brazil nuts are gathered in eastern Peru; production is listed as 2 500 t in 1991, with export of 1 104 t valued at US$3,12 million. Coconut is cultivated and the production level in 1997 was 14 000t.
12.3.8 Palm hearts
Extraction of palm hearts from native huasaí palms yielded production of 677 120 kg of canned palm hearts in 1991; most all of this production was exported and had a value of US$1,6 million.
12.3.9 Edible oil
According to FAO estimates, 5 000 t of palm kernels and 35 000 t of palm oil were produced in Peru in 1997 from plantations of the African oil palm. The size of the total area under this tree is not available.
12.3.10 Cocoa
In 1997 19 000 t of cocoa beans were harvested from 32 000 ha.
12.3.11 Colourants and dyes
Annatto production (4 000 t in mid 1990s) derives from both cultivation and wild/managed plants. Cochineal insect production amounted to 500 t in 1993, yielding an export 77 t of carmine valued at US$6,7 million.
12.3.12 Commercial animals
The importance of wild animals within the context of Peru’s NWFP is supported by statistical data. Live bird exports were calculated to be 50 000 units in 1991. In the same year, 15 563 units of animal skins were produced.
FAO. 1995a. Forest resources assessment 1990. Tropical forest plantation resources. Forestry
Paper 128. FAO, Rome.
FAO. 1995b. Memoria: consulta de expertos sobre productos forestales no madereros para America Latin y el Caribe. Forestry Series No. 1, Santiago.
FAO. 1997. Latin American and Caribbean Forestry Commission. State of forestry in the region - 1996. Forestry Series No. 8. Forestry Series No. 8. FAO, Santiago.
FAO. 1998. FAO production yearbook. Vol. 51 – 1997. FAO, Rome.
Green, C. L. 1995. Natural colourants and dyestuffs. Non-Wood Forest Products 4. FAO,
Rome.
Iqbal, M. 1995. Trade restrictions affecting international trade in non-wood forest products.
Non-Wood Forest Products 8. FAO, Rome.
IUCN. 1982. IUCN Directory of Neotropical Protected Areas. Tycooly Publishing, Dublin.
Ruiz Pérez, M., Sayer, J. A. and Jehoram, S.C. 1993. El extractivismo en América Latina. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.
Wickens, G. E. 1995. Edible nuts. Non-Wood Forest Products 5. FAO, Rome.
César A. Barriga Ruiz, Depto. de Manejo Forestal, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Apartado 456, Lima 100, Peru. Tel: 5114 352 035; Fax 5114 331 130.
Alejandro Gómez Silvera, División de Manejo y Aprovechamiento Forestal, PRONAMACHCS, Apartado 14-0016, Lima 14, Peru. Tel: 5114 716 611; Fax: 5114 713 182.
Yolanda Guzmán Guzmán, Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonia Peruana, Av. Abelardo Quinones Km. 2.5, Apartado 784, Iquitos, Peru. Tel: 5194 232 925; Fax: 5194 235 527.
Alberto Yataco Pérez, Proyecto Nacional Manejo de Cuencas Hidrográficas y Conservación de Suelos, Apartado 14-0016, Lima 14, Peru. Tel: 5114 716 611; Fax: 5114 713 182.
