Rural Peru has shown poverty and inequality reductions, but some regions lag behind. We analyse the driving forces behind these trends by using microsimulation-based decompositions. We find that poverty and inequality reductions are mainly attributable to positive price effect in Peru’s agricultural sector, in part due to international market forces. Favourable developments have increased incomes also in non-agricultural sectors, and created new jobs, but were less pro-poor than is ideal. Further, shrinking farm sizes have hampered poverty reduction. Policies should target the participation in cash cropping and non-agricultural activities, especially if positive commodity price developments are only transitory.