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Natural hazards and risk in rice cultivation along the upper Amazon River

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Abstract

Farmers along the Amazon River each year face multiple natural hazards that threaten crop production and limit the potential for agricultural development of the expansive floodplain and active channel. In this paper we report the findings of a study of natural hazard-related risk associated with rice production on silt bars in the active channel of the Amazon River near Iquitos, Peru. Data were gathered in four rice producing communities in 2014 using household surveys (n = 83 households), focus group discussions, surveying of land elevations along the Amazon River, and interpretation of remote sensing imagery. The probability, extent, and severity of rice crop shortfalls were estimated for recent production years and the economic losses to farming households were also assessed. Our findings point to a very high risk of crop shortfalls due to natural hazards, suggesting that a good year brings rice farmers bounty and a bad year, near penury. River stage reversals (repiquetes) and edaphic conditions were found to be more problematic than the often cited hazard of high and/or early floods. Also surprisingly, farmers’ perceptions of hazards and risk diverged markedly from actual shortfalls experienced during the production years studied. Our results provide the first quantitative estimates of risk due to the multiple natural hazards along the Amazon River and point to the need to assist lowland farmers with risk mitigation so as to unlock the considerable potential of Amazon floodlands for agricultural production.

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Source El Servicio de Hidrografia y Navegación de la Amazonia, https://www.dhn.mil.pe (2014)

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Photo: Geneva List

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their deep gratitude to residents of the four study communities who generously gave their time and energy to this project. Field research assistance was ably provided by Mayra Quevedo Guerrero. We thank Adrien Lepoutre for allowing us to use the probability of full crop maturation chart and the helpful guidance of Michel Lapointe, as well as Pablo Arroyo for his assistance with the satellite imagery, and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful suggestions. This research was made possible with funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Fonds de Recherche du Québec—Société et Culture.

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  1. Department of Geography, McGill University, Burnside Hall, Rm 705, 805 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC, H3A 0B9, Canada

    Geneva List & Oliver T. Coomes

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Correspondence to Oliver T. Coomes.

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List, G., Coomes, O.T. Natural hazards and risk in rice cultivation along the upper Amazon River. Nat Hazards 87, 165–184 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-017-2758-x

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