In Peru, one way to save endangered, native potatoes is by selling and eating them. I recently learned that some restaurant owners are buying native potatoes directly from farmers.
Paul and Marcella and I went with local agronomist Raúl Ccanto to meet Guido Villegas, the Huancayo city official in charge of promoting food security and local commerce. He told us that the government of Peru has a program to feed children (Qali Wamru: “vigorous child”) where the national government sends foodstuffs that can be easily stored and transported.
The city of Huancayo supplements these by buying local fresh food and vegetables, including native potatoes, to prepare school breakfasts and lunches for the kids. “We were pioneers in these direct purchases,” explained Mr. Guido.
He added that the city is also interested in supporting biodiversity, agroecology and family farming. Every year on National Potato Day (30 May), there is a fair in the city of Huancayo, where the local government puts individual restaurant owners in touch with smallholder farmers.
So, we drove over to El Costillar, a family restaurant in downtown Huancayo, and introduced ourselves to Percy Bráñez, the owner. The place was spotless, well-lit and it only had four tables, making it a perfect place for a quite lunch. Percy seemed delighted to have a film crew drop by uninvited, and he thoughtfully went from table to table, asking the customers if they minded if we filmed while they ate. He graciously gave us some of his signature, local food, including boiled native potatoes.
Percy explained that he has been in business for 20 years, following in the tradition of his father, who started a similar restaurant 50 years ago. Confirming what Guido had said, Percy told how he met two farmers at the fair on national potato day. He asked for their phone numbers, and now, whenever he needs potatoes, he gives them a ring, and they bring the produce right to the restaurant’s door.
Percy buys a little over 100 kilos a week. He takes whatever variety of native potatoes the farmers have. He seems to enjoy serving this diversity in his locally-themed restaurant. There is a transaction cost for the farmers, who have to make the trip to town, but the drivers of small, country buses are usually happy to take a sack of potatoes as luggage.
The two farmers have a ready market; the restaurant gets a steady supply, and by cutting out the middleperson, they reach a price higher than what the farmer would get from the wholesaler, but lower than what the restaurant would pay in the market.
Restaurants and other family firms are a natural outlet for family farms, bringing fresh, local food to nearby cities. And local governments can help to put smallholders in touch with potential customers, who can then deal directly with each other.
Restaurant owners can simply phone the farmers when they need produce. This kind of direct marketing was unthinkable thirty years ago, when Latin American farmers barely had access to any phones at all, let alone to a handset in their pocket.
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