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

Author

Listed:
  • Geneva List

    (McGill University)

  • Oliver T. Coomes

    (McGill University)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Geneva List & Oliver T. Coomes, 2017. "Natural hazards and risk in rice cultivation along the upper Amazon River," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 87(1), pages 165-184, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:87:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s11069-017-2758-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s11069-017-2758-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Marion Comptour & Sophie Caillon & Leonor Rodrigues & Doyle McKey, 2018. "Wetland Raised-Field Agriculture and Its Contribution to Sustainability: Ethnoecology of a Present-Day African System and Questions about Pre-Columbian Systems in the American Tropics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-23, August.
    2. Coomes, Oliver T. & Cheng, Yuanyu & Takasaki, Yoshito & Abizaid, Christian, 2021. "What drives clearing of old-growth forest over secondary forests in tropical shifting cultivation systems? Evidence from the Peruvian Amazon," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).

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