The Russia-Ukraine War and the Peruvian Agrarian Crisis

Abstract

This article analyses the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war on Perú's agricultural sector. Studies have shown that the war has created a sudden ‘shock’ in Peruvian agriculture because of disruptions to the import of Russian fertilisers. These findings highlight that fertiliser scarcity has provoked a disastrous decline in Perú's agricultural production, primarily affecting small farmers. While these approaches might lead to considering the war-led agricultural ‘shock’ in Perú as an anomalous and externally generated catastrophe, this article argues that the ripple effects of the war should have been expected thanks to domestic historical inequalities and structural dynamics that are intrinsic to the global food system.