Piura

Department in northwest Peru; area 35,892 sq km/13,858 sq mi; population (1996) 1,467,538. The capital is Piura. Other major cities include Sullana, and the ports of Paita and Talara. The Cordillera de Guamani of the Andes lies on the department's eastern border, but Piura is largely composed of arid sandy desert, notably the enormous Desierto de Sechura in the south. The main agricultural products are high-quality Pima cotton and rice, grown in the irrigated valleys of the Chira and Piura rivers. Talara is the centre of Peru's long-established oil industry, and is an important industrial centre. Valuable phosphate deposits are mined at Bayóvar, in the Sechura Desert.

Irrigation, vital for Piura's agriculture, was greatly aided by the entry into operation of the Poechos dam project on the Chira River in 1976. Water is also piped from the Amazon Basin through tunnels in the Andes to aid cultivation here. In the scrubland areas, where water remains scarce, goats are farmed intensively.