Soil and topographic variability of organic coffee in Chirinos, Cajamarca: spatial analysis using GIS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17268/Keywords:
Geographic information systems, coffee, organic agriculture, geostatistics, acid soilsAbstract
A geographic information system was implemented to analyze the spatial variability of soil in organic coffee plantations in Chirinos, Cajamarca, Peru, using data from 130 georeferenced plots belonging to small-scale producers. Physicochemical analyses of the soil were integrated with topographic variables derived from the terrain, with an emphasis on organic matter, bulk density, pH, exchangeable acidity, and exchangeable aluminum. The methodology combined descriptive statistics, adjustment of functional relationships between critical variables, comparison of interpolation methods, and geostatistical interpolation using ordinary kriging. The results revealed marked edaphic and topographic heterogeneity, incompatible with uniform management across plots. An inverse relationship was observed between organic matter and bulk density (R² = 0.4775), as well as a stronger association between slope and exchangeable aluminum (R² = 0.7055). The resulting maps allowed for the identification of areas with a higher risk of acidity and others with better soil physical condition, demonstrating the value of spatial analysis for supporting differentiated management decisions in organic hillside coffee plantations. The study provides a reproducible methodology for on-farm soil analysis in Andean coffee systems.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Delvis Sánchez-Díaz, Henry Jesús Carrillo-Leonardo, Eleazar Manuel Rufasto-Campos, José Wilson Gómez-Cumpa
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