Land Suitability for Coffee (Coffea arabica) Growing in Amazonas, Peru: Integrated Use of AHP, GIS and RS

• Published in: ISPRS international journal of geo-information Vol. 9; no. 11; p. 673
• Main Authors: Salas López, Rolando, Gómez Fernández, Darwin, Silva López, Jhonsy O., Rojas Briceño, Nilton B., Oliva, Manuel, Terrones Murga, Renzo E., Iliquín Trigoso, Daniel, Barboza Castillo, Elgar, Barrena Gurbillón, Miguel Ángel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-11-2020
• Subjects: Agricultural management; agricultural zoning; Agriculture; AHP-GIS; Analytic hierarchy process; caficulture; Climate change; Coffea arabica; Coffee; Criteria; Crop diseases; Crops; Diseases; Economics; EMC; Exports; Geographic information systems; Geographical information systems; Humidity; Information processing; Information systems; Land management; land suitability; Land use; Land use management; Land use planning; Local government; Pests; Remote sensing; site selection; Socioeconomic aspects; Structural hierarchy; Sustainable agriculture; Sustainable development; Peru
• ISSN: 2220-9964; 2220-9964
• DOI: 10.3390/ijgi9110673

Peru is one of the world’s main coffee exporters, whose production is driven mainly by five regions and, among these, the Amazonas region. However, a combined negative factor, including, among others, climate crisis, the incidence of diseases and pests, and poor land-use planning, have led to a decline in coffee yields, impacting on the family economy. Therefore, this research assesses land suitability for coffee production (Coffea arabica) in Amazonas region, in order to support the development of sustainable agriculture. For this purpose, a hierarchical structure was developed based on six climatological sub-criteria, five edaphological sub-criteria, three physiographical sub-criteria, four socio-economic sub-criteria, and three restrictions (coffee diseases and pests). These were integrated using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS). Of the Amazonas region, 11.4% (4803.17 km2), 87.9% (36,952.27 km2) and 0.7% (295.47 km2) are “optimal”, “suboptimal” and “unsuitable” for the coffee growing, respectively. It is recommended to orient coffee growing in 912.48 km2 of territory in Amazonas, which presents “optimal” suitability for coffee and is “unsuitable” for diseases and pests. This research aims to support coffee farmers and local governments in the region of Amazonas to implement new strategies for land management in coffee growing. Furthermore, the methodology used can be applied to assess land suitability for other crops of economic interest in Andean Amazonian areas.