LIMA — October 15, 2026
In 2024, 860 hectares of Pima cotton were planted in Piura, against the 2,955 that had been planned [1].
According to the information from Piura's Regional Directorate of Agriculture (DRAP) reported by Agraria.pe, the first factor was low productivity, caused by a lack of water, which limited irrigation [1].
The announced plans
In January 2025, the Minister of Agrarian Development and Irrigation, Ángel Manero Campos, said that Midagri would finance the installation of 5,000 to 6,000 hectares of cotton, with the aim of recovering Pima [2].
According to that report, planting would begin on the northern coast and then move to the central coast and, to a lesser extent, the southern coast [2].
In April 2026, Piura's Regional Directorate of Agriculture reported that it is working to set up a multisectoral technical table within the Cotton Public Investment Project [3].
It also announced demonstration plots of Pima cotton, permanent technical assistance and field schools [3].
What Midagri projected
For the 2025/2026 agricultural campaign, Midagri projected that the area planted with cotton in Peru would grow 104.7% over the previous campaign, about 6,902 additional hectares [4].
That growth would be concentrated in Huancavelica, while a considerable decrease was projected in Ica and Lambayeque [4].
Midagri's National Survey of Planting Intentions 2026/2027, as reported by Agraria.pe in July 2026, lists cotton, together with wheat, among the crops facing significant challenges [5].
Putting it in scale
USDA estimates 2025/2026 world cotton production at 121.0 million bales and a yield of 893 kilograms per hectare [6].
With those two figures and standard 480-pound bales, cotton covers about 29.5 million hectares worldwide (our own calculation) [6].
Against that total, 6,000 hectares would be about 0.02% and the 860 hectares planted in Piura in 2024, less than 0.003% (our own calculation) [1] [2] [6].
What we did not find
We did not find, in public sources, the planted area in Piura after that season, nor a projection specific to Piura's Pima cotton, nor whether the financed planting announced by Midagri was carried out.
We also did not find the results of the technical table or the current status of the investment project.
This note will be updated when more recent public figures are available.