Geography of Peru

These are some of the characteristics of the geography of Peru:

• Area: 1 285 210 km2 (South American ranking: 3rd, World ranking: 20th)
• Three areas: Coast (10% of the country area), andes mountains (30%) and jungle (60%)
• The altitudes in Peru varies between 0 meters and 6768 meters (highest peak: Huascaran)
• Because of the andes mountains, the coast, the jungle, Peru has many geographical regions. Peru has a large variety of microclimates. There are 28 of the 32 world climates.

Optimal conditions for growing coffee are:

1. Location and climate.

   Coffee needs around 1800 hours of sunshine per year. Water management is an important thing. Because the majority of farmers don't have the money to have a irrigation system, they depend on the rain conditions of the location. Coffee plants need between 1500 and 2000 mm of water per year. The temperature is other important point. A temperature between 15 and 24 °C is recommended to grow coffee.

2. Shade percentage

   Because sun radiation is sometimes to high, shades management is necessary to protect the plant from it. For this, shade trees are used. They are planted together with the coffee plants. In this way the coffee plants are protected by these trees against to much sun radiation. Depending on the location around climate, shade radiation plays an important role in the quality and success of the coffee plantages. There are normally between 8000 and 10000 coffee plants per hectare. With the use of shade trees, the coffee plant density lies between 6000 and 8000 plants per hectare.

3. Soil management

   Soil management plays a key role in the coffee production. First, the acidity of the soil should be between a pH value of 5.0 and 5.5. The supply of nitrogen and phosphorus as well of potassium and magnesium is very important to ensure that the plants has all necesarry nutrients and the soil mantains the adequate pH value.

4. Rejuvenation cycle

   The productivity of the coffee plant sinks after some years. This is the reason why the rejuvenation cycle is important to mantain the productivity of the plants. There are two main methods:

   • Side Pruning

     One side of the coffee plant is removed. On this side a new sucker will be trained. After two years, then the new sucker can produce coffee, the other side of the coffee plant is removed.

   • Full Stumping

     In this method the tree is cut to knee height (about 50 cm from soil level).

   The advantages of side pruning is that the production of coffee doesn't stop. That is the reason why this method is recommended to the farmers. By the full stumping method the production of coffee of this plant is stopped for two years.

Because of the geography of Peru, the country has many regions where the production of coffee is not only possible, but coffee of high quality can be produced. In the next picture the coffee regions can be seen in dark green.