It was more than 20 years ago that Takayuki Suzuki packed his bags and moved to Peru.
He was 22, freshly out of college, with little money and few friends there. Suzuki had one thing in mind -- to help improve the economic conditions of Peruvian farmers with a legitimate cash crop.
While still at Tokyo University of Agriculture in 1982, Suzuki traveled to Peru and saw widespread poverty suffered by banana, coffee and cacao farmers.