More than 173 forest fires have impacted 20 regions of Peru, according to the National Emergency Operations Center (COEN) of Undecided. The most affected areas are La Libertad, Tumbes, Ancash, San Martin, Cajamarca, Apurimac, Piura, Madre de Dios, Ayacucho, Amazonas, Pasco, Huanuco, Puno, Cusco, Huancavelica, Ucayali, San Martin and Puno.
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To date, the tragic toll from the fires is 15 people dead, six injured and more than 1,876 homeless. Without official measures to combat the fires, the future is bleak and one of the most affected sectors is agriculture. This would lead to some products that we usually put on our table being directly affected and consequently their prices going up.
Claudia Sicolidirector of the UPC’s Economics courses, gives us an overview of what will happen in the coming weeks.
“Fires leave the soil unusable for subsequent production. That is why we could observe a reduction in the amount planted of different products such as: Potato, coffee, olluco, rice. In Loreto, the production of palm trees, wood and bananas would be affected,” said the specialist in an interview with Peru21.
“As we have seen this year with the increase in the price of garlic, which was due to the fact that last year there was a problem with the weather factor, and it generated a reduction in production, It is a problem that if compensatory measures are not taken, we will have a lower production in the next harvest and prices will increase.”Sícoli advances.
Sícoli points out that the effect that the disasters may have on other productive areas focused on sheep, pigs and all animals in the areas that may have been affected must be taken into account, as well as areas related to tourism that could also reduce their income levels.
The time it could take to return to normal production of products will depend on the level of damage, possible palliative measures and improvements that can be made to the affected soils: “This would have to be complemented by significant technology incorporation, increased training and attempts to generate improvements in productivity levels so that more can be produced on less available land and production reductions that could have significant effects on prices can be avoided.”
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