Analysis of Climatic Variation in a Changing Livestock and Agricultural Area: Misiones, Paraguay
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ISSN 2526-7043 www.sbagro.org.br DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.31062/agrom.v28.e026757 Analysis of climatic variation in a changing livestock and agricultural area: Misiones, Paraguay Max Pastén1,2(*), Norman Breuer3, Victoria Diana Schneider1, Corina Galeano1 1 Universidad Nacional de Asunción - Facultad Politécnica. Avenida Mcal. López s/n, San Lorenzo, Paraguay. E-mails: [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected] 2 Dirección de Meteorología e Hidrología (DMH – DINAC). 3 Universidad Católica Nuestra Señora de la Asunción - Centro de Tecnología Apropiada. Tte. Cantaluppi y G. Molinas, Asunción, Paraguay. E-mail: [email protected] (*)Corresponding autor. ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Over recent decades, the Misiones Department, located in southern Paraguay, Received 6 July 2020 has shifted from an almost exclusively natural pasture-based traditional livestock Accepted 4 December 2020 production region, to the major rice production area of the country, soybeans maize, and family farm crops are also grown. Producers face production risk due to climate variability and change, and due to a lack of studies and analysis of meteorological variables in the area. The major risk are related to precipitation, including excess, Index terms: deficiencies, intense events and frosts. We used RClimDex to analyze extreme climate indexes event trends, specifically precipitation and temperature values; and the Standard extreme values Precipitation Index (SPI) to analyze drought. Results show that drought is a recurrent RClimDex phenomenon and that it alternates with periods of significant rainfall excesses. First rice frost is June seven, the last frost occurs on August two, and the frost period is on drought average 57 days. We found significant increases in intense precipitation and on wet frost days. A negative trend was observed in summer days, monthly maximum value of daily maximum temperature, hot days, cold nights and daytime temperature range. These results properly communicated may help producers avoid and adapt to climate risk. © 2020 SBAgro. All rights reserved. Introduction is currently increasing in important either for domestic consumption or for export. For the 2013-2014 cropping Irrigation has been, throughout history, one of the main year, using Landsat 8 satellite images, a cultivated area of adaptive methods to mitigate climate risk in agriculture. approximately 86,000 ha was identified in the Tebicuary The availability of surface water for irrigation is subject to River Basin, of which in the middle and lower basin are in the extreme phenomena, which could become more frequent Misiones Department (Mongelós, 2016). This administrative because of climate variability and change and the ENSO region continues to grow, currently producing slightly over phenomenon. 70% of irrigated rice, or some 105,000 ha in 2020. The One of the crops that uses water is rice, this in Paraguay Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (2019) indicates that Agrometeoros, Passo Fundo, v.28, e026757, 2020. the same area of the previous harvest will be maintained, but a trend toward increased intense rainfall patterns in the projects reductions of 1.5 % both in yield, which would fall region has been highlighted in the literature for some time to 6,500 kg / ha, and in production to 1,053,050 tons (FCA (Grimm & Tedeschi 2009; Skansi et al., 2013). UNA, 2019). On the other hand, drought is one of the recurring natural The Department of Misiones, located in the South of phenomena and presents different time scales. Scientific the Oriental Region of Paraguay, is a traditional livestock knowledge and technological advancement have allowed us production area, here grows some 50,000 ha of soybeans to improve forecasting techniques for a drought event. It can (CAPECO, 2019). There is a cattle herd 466,000 head in the appear gradually and last from weeks to years. The analysis Department (SENACSA, 2018). Finally, over 5,300 family of the different past drought events is of utmost importance, farmers exist in the study area. They depend on crops such since this has an impact not only on the meteorological and as manioc, beans, maize, sugar cane and vegetables for food hydrological sphere, but also in the social and economic security (PNUD, 2010). aspects. In Paraguay, where agriculture and livestock make Previous studies identified intense rain events as a large portion of GNP, drought can cause very important increased in Eastern Paraguay. The volume and intensity impacts on the economy. of precipitation recorded every year is increasing as are Understanding that precipitation deficits had different the annual number of extreme events defined from the impacts on groundwater, reservoir water storage, soil 90th percentile of the historical data. For the decennial moisture, snowbanks, and river flows led US scientists changes observed by climatic season, a positive tendency McKee, Doesken and Kleist to develop the normalized was detected in the volume of accumulated precipitation precipitation index (SPI) in 1993. and in the number of extreme events in spring, summer and Another phenomenon of great importance is the autumn (Breuer et al., 2017). frost, as it arouses much interest due to the impacts it has Statistical studies on variation of the volume of on the agricultural sector. Also, the implementation of precipitation in the region and for Paraguay as a whole exist. different types of models that allow obtaining agroclimatic These studies indicate an increase of the annual accumulated information on the behavior of frost for a specific region. This and an increase in the daily intensity of rainfall through time type of study helps to know that the region provides for the (Arndt et al., 2010; Haylock et al., 2006; Liebmann et al., occurrence of frosts, their causes and their consequences. At 2004). present, climate variability generates the majority of inter- Paraguay’s precipitation patterns are influenced by annual fluctuations in annual crop yields, which represent climatic phenomena, especially due to the El Niño-Southern a significant proportion of the basic nutrition of the family Oscillation phenomenon (ENSO). Fraisse et al. (2008) farm population. It also affects maize, wheat, oats and other showed that this phenomenon, by influencing the rainfall winter covers, and soybean plantings in early spring, as well regime influences yields of crops in Paraguay. This study as late sowings of “zafriña” or second cycle maize. analyzed the relationship between ENSO phenomenon and Soybean and rice farmers, livestock breeders, and precipitation patterns during different stages of development family production units face potential climate risk from of soybeans and concluded that the positive and negative insufficient or excessive rainfall, greater rain event intensity, residuals of performance occurred both in the neutral phase frosts, changing seasons, extreme temperatures and extreme as in the warm phase (El Niño), and that in cold phase weather events. Understanding of climate variability and events (La Niña) the residuals were always negative. The change contributes for greater adaptation and resilience North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Madden-Julian through best management practices. However, as there Oscillation (MJO) potentially influence rainfall patterns in are few studies for the Misiones department of Paraguay Eastern Paraguay, but studies are lacking. specifically, this document aims to begin to fill the knowledge Recently heavy flooding occurred in Paraguay, Argentina gap by analyzing a long-term climate record from the main and southern Brazil during the austral summer of 2016/2017. station located at San Juan Bautista, Misiones. One study attributed these events to “alternating moisture inflow from the South American low-level jet and local Material and methods convergence associated with baroclinic systems that were conducive to mesoscale convective activity and enhanced The city of San Juan Bautista capital of the department of precipitation.” These circulation patterns were favored by Misiones is shown in Figure 1. In this city the conventional cross-time-scale interactions of a very strong El Niño event, meteorological station is located, in addition to an automatic an unusually persistent Madden-Julian Oscillation in phases station, belonging to the network of stations of the 4 and 5, and the presence of a dipole SST anomaly in the Directorate of Meteorology and Hydrology. The San Juan central southern Atlantic Ocean (Doss-Gollin et al., 2018). Bautista station is located at 26° latitude and 57° longitude Although the 2016/17 flooding study refers to a major event, with an elevation of 131 m, and there are 53 years of data Agrometeoros, Passo Fundo, v.28, e026757, 2020. Figure 1. Location map of Misiones department. Own source. In the Eastern region of Paraguay, the origin of the prevailing precipitations is of the convective type, and they are produced by isolated storms or by storm lines that start from spring to autumn and in some isolated cases occur in winter. The spatial variation of the average annual precipitation in Paraguay is considerable, the distribution has a southern sense and varies zonally from a minimum of 600 mm in the west of the Chaco and exceeds 1800 mm (Figure 2) in the south of the Eastern region (Grassi et al., 2005). The precipitations are maximum in the months of October to March and the period of low precipitations goes from April to August. In Paraguay the average annual temperature ranges from 21°C in the southeast of the Oriental region and above 25°C in the north of the Chaco (Figure 3). In the Oriental region the average temperatures are lower than in the Chaco and the maximum temperatures exceed 40°C in summer, while in the south of the Eastern region the since 1966. Figure 2. Precipitation Normals 1961-1990 (Source: Pasten average temperatures are lower than in the Chaco. In winter, frosts are usually In the Eastern region of Paraguay, the origin of the et al., 2011). Figure 3. Monthly mean temperature 1971- 2000registered (Source: Pasten in much et al., 2011).