35.6% of the active population is employed in agriculture, a sector which offers various possibilities, but which is still relatively underdeveloped. On the other hand, arable land and arborescent crops affect an extremely small portion (3.3%) of the territorial surface and agriculture participates only for 7.2% in the formation of the national income. In fact, speaking of Peruvian agriculture, a clear distinction must be made between the very different types of management, profitability and production that prevail in the three fundamental geographical sections of the country. Thus in the coastal strip, given the practically desert climate, agriculture is of the oasis type, intensive, made possible by irrigation obtained through the use of the waters of the rivers that descend from the Andes and flow into the Pacific Ocean; therefore irrigated tropical crops prevail (in particular sugar cane, cotton and rice, but also sweet potatoes and fruit), destined for internal consumption and, in part, for foreign markets. This is the most productive and best organized area, even if agriculture is still severely hampered by insufficient irrigation in several areas, which prevents adequate expansion. In the Sierra, where the most suitable soils correspond to the valley funds, agriculture is essentially subsistence (cereals, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc.) and is rather poor. In practice, the result obtained is the result of a centuries-old and extraordinary tenacity of the Indians, as revealed by the but also sweet potatoes and fruit), intended for domestic consumption and, in part, for foreign markets. This is the most productive and best organized area, even if agriculture is still severely hampered by insufficient irrigation in several areas, which prevents adequate expansion. In the Sierra, where the most suitable soils correspond to the valley funds, agriculture is essentially subsistence (cereals, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc.) and is rather poor. In practice, the result obtained is the result of a centuries-old and extraordinary tenacity of the Indians, as revealed by the which prevents adequate strengthening. In the Sierra, where the most suitable soils correspond to the valley funds, agriculture is essentially subsistence (cereals, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc.) and is rather poor. In practice, the result obtained is the result of a centuries-old and extraordinary tenacity of the Indians, as revealed by the andenes, terraces that in many cases even date back to the Inca era; the Indians cultivate the soil up to prohibitive altitudes, sometimes higher than 4000 m and on very steep slopes. In the so-called Montaña, a purely forest region, agriculture is mostly conducted with very primitive methods, except in some areas of recent colonization; the areas most suitable for crops are found in the highest range, in the well-known Ceja de Montaña, where certain plantation crops have been successfully introduced.

Most of the arative is obviously occupied by cereals, the basis of local food, even if the quantities produced are not sufficient to cover the national needs: in order to revitalize the sector and reduce dependence on imports, the ambitious programs of agrarian reform and extension of the irrigation network (also through the diversion of Amazonian rivers towards the Pacific) promoted during the last decade of the twentieth century. Among the cereals prevails corn, the main food of the population, cultivated above all in the Sierra (especially in the Mantaro and Urubamba valleys and near Lake Titicaca), where it reaches up to 3300 m of altitude; follow the barley, which is still found at 4000 m, wheat, sorghum and quinoa, a plant similar to millet and already known by the Incas. More recently introduced cereal, but which has already given excellent results for its high yields, is rice, which is obtained in the irrigated areas of the Coast and in the Northern Ceja de Montaña. Another fundamental food product is the potato, whose cultivation is typical of the Andean area, where it also reaches altitudes of 4000 m (very high yields are obtained, however, in some oases of the coast); likewise, cassava is widely consumed. The country can also count on various horticultural crops, including onions and tomatoes, and fruit, which come mainly from the coast (citrus fruits, pineapples, bananas, apples, peaches, etc.); an important woody crop is that of the vine, widespread in all the southern coastal valleys, where the climate is strongly mitigated. Industrial-type crops are also important: cotton (along the coast, especially in the central area and in the oasis of Piura) and sugar cane (widespread in the best irrigated areas of the coast but also present on the eastern Andean slopes) prevail. at over 2000 m, as well as in the Ceja de Montaña), which fuel a substantial export. The cultivation of coffee is important, practiced both in large farms and in small family units, especially in the mountainous areas of central and north-eastern Peru, as well as in the valleys of the tributaries of the Ucayali; more modest, however, are the tobacco, cocoa, tea, sesame and soy plantations. § Forests and woods cover half of the land area; they constitute a huge potential, hitherto completely inadequately exploited, also due to the scarcity of communication routes. The forests are particularly dense on the internal mountainous slopes and are rich in all kinds of woods including precious woodworking essences (mahogany, cedar, rosewood, etc.); the timber obtained is usually sent by floating to Iquitos, where it is worked in large sawmills (other plants are located in Tingo María). Typical of the Montaña region, it is also the chinchona, a plant from whose bark quinine is obtained. Finally, Sierra and Montaña produce large quantities of coca (Erithroxylon coca), whose annual production exceeds 110 thousand tons, partly consumed locally by the Indians, who chew the leaves, partly used for the extraction of cocaine (in 2006, according to the aforementioned UN report, about one third of the cocaine produced in the world comes from Peru, a country of South America defined by ehistorylib, com).