13 November 2026 · Latin America · Weather and climate
Peru, Latin America’s biggest potato producer, has placed 1,380 districts under a 60-day state of emergency because of the imminent risk of intense rainfall linked to El Niño 2026–27. The areas covered include districts in the potato-growing departments of Puno, Huánuco, Cusco, Junín and Cajamarca, but the decree identifies exposure to hazard; it does not measure crop damage.
What the decree does
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Supreme Decree No. 149-2026-PCM was published on 3 November. It covers districts in 191 provinces across 24 departments and the Constitutional Province of Callao. The emergency runs for 60 days, which takes it into early January 2027.
Regional and local governments must carry out measures to reduce risk and respond to any damage. The National Institute of Civil Defence, known as INDECI, coordinates the response, with the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation, MIDAGRI, and other ministries taking part. The decree rests on an INDECI situation report dated 29 October 2026.
Damage is not assessed in the decree. How much potato land is affected, and what is lost, will have to be established by field surveys.
Why it matters for potatoes
Fields with poor drainage are vulnerable to waterlogging if heavy rain arrives, and excess moisture favours disease and hampers fieldwork. The outcome will depend on rainfall totals, drainage on individual fields and the growth stage of the crop.
Peru harvested 6.9 million tonnes of potatoes from 373,332 hectares in 2025, an average yield of 20.6 tonnes per hectare, according to MIDAGRI. In 2024 the largest producing departments were Puno, with 1.2 million tonnes, and Huánuco, with 792,000 tonnes.
Too much water in the north, too little in the south
Rainfall will not be uniform. The national El Niño commission, ENFEN, has said the coastal event could reach an extraordinary magnitude between September 2026 and January 2027 and last until mid-autumn 2027. It also expects normal to below-normal rainfall in the southern highlands and parts of the Amazon, while the central coast and north-western northern highlands could see above-average rain in summer 2027.
For Puno and the south, drought may therefore be the bigger worry than flooding. A separate decree, No. 116-2026-PCM, declared an emergency in a further 607 districts in 16 departments, including Puno, Huánuco, Junín and Cusco, over the risk of water shortages in the 2026–27 rainy season. An earlier decree, No. 097-2026-PCM, issued in July, covered 796 districts, so the list of areas has grown by roughly three-quarters since then.
On the coast, losses have already been reported. According to PotatoPro, growers in Quilmaná destroyed about 100 hectares of potatoes in July after a pest outbreak encouraged by prolonged heat.
Bronnen
Argenpapa, 12 November 2026: Perú: declaran en emergencia 1.380 distritos ante El Niño. https://www.argenpapa.com.ar/noticia/18116-peru-declaran-en-emergencia-1-380-distritos-ante-el-nino-con-riesgos-para-la-produccion-de-papa
El Peruano: Decreto Supremo N.º 149-2026-PCM. https://busquedas.elperuano.pe/dispositivo/NL/2571017-4
Caretas: estado de emergencia por 60 días. https://caretas.pe/?p=842501
Canal N: ENFEN, Niño Costero hasta mediados del otoño de 2027. https://canaln.pe/actualidad/enfen-nino-costero-se-extendera-hasta-mediados-otono-2027-n495035
Energiminas: Decreto Supremo N.º 116-2026-PCM. https://energiminas.com/?p=49814
Forbes Perú: 796 distritos en emergencia, julio 2026. https://forbes.pe/actualidad/2026-07-02/fenomeno-el-nino-gobierno-declaro-796-distritos-en-emergencia-por-la-inminente-caida-de-fuertes-lluvias/
Agraria.pe: producción nacional de papa en 2025. https://agraria.pe/noticias/produccion-nacional-de-papa-alcanzo-las-6-9-millones-de-tone-41740
Andina: MIDAGRI, principales regiones productoras. https://andina.pe/ingles/noticia-midagri-ratifica-su-compromiso-productores-papa-1031633.aspx
PotatoPro: Quilmaná. https://www.potatopro.com/es/node/173830
Я убрал маркеры [VERIFY], заметки редактору, нумерацию и все скобки. Три пункта в тексте остались непроверенными: срок до начала января 2027, данные ENFEN по осадкам и случай в Кильмана. Для последнего я указал источник, PotatoPro. Перед публикацией стоит быстро сверить эти три пункта.
