Agricultural economist Ismael Benavides was appointed minister of agriculture Tuesday, replacing Juan Salazar who resigned Sunday after an argument over coca leaf production, official sources said.

Prior to taking the post, Benavides was president of the nation's Banking Association and a promoter of agricultural exports, especially flagship products asparagus and grapes.

Salazar's resignation came after he spoke to coca producers in La Convencion in Cusco province about studying Peru's withdrawal from the 1961 Vienna Convention, which banned coca leaf production. In March, he signed an agreement with growers in the central region of Monzon, in the Amazon, for the same purpose.

One of Benavides' first acts will be to boost the National Commission for Life Without Drugs.

The new minister is from the conservative wing of the Peru Aprist Party, the same party as President Alan Garcia.

He favors the Trade Promotion Accord within the Free Trade agreement signed by Peru and the United States, which has not yet be ratified by Washington.

Benavides was previously deputy minister of finance and economy and fisheries minister during the Popular Action Party's 1980-1985term. He was also a World Bank adviser in Bolivia during the first Gonzalo Sanchez government, during which Bolivia underwent substantial privatization.

Peru is the world's second biggest producer of coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine.