ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews government policies towards agricultural growth and the output performance of the sector. It deals with the output performance in Peruvian agriculture before and after 1968 and discusses some of the key factors which can explain the low rate of growth in Peruvian agriculture, such as the resource base, investments and price policies. The chapter analyses one cause for agricultural stagnation prior to the military government in 1968 was government policies towards agricultural sector. It investigates whether the military government initiated any major change in policy and explores some of the main causes for stagnation of Peruvian agriculture. Peru is scarcely populated and the farms of Peru cover only a fraction of total available land. The basic elements of the strategy of import substitution in Peru have been: raised tariffs on imported manufactured goods; stimulation of industrial investments. Monopolistic practices are characteristic of Peru, as well as of other small Third World countries embarking on import substitution policies.
