Parched Rivers, Withered Crops Show Impact of Amazon Drought

Justino Lira picked at anemic-looking green beans on his parcel of land near the Amazon River.

The drought this year ruined almost all of his batches of beans, cabbage, corn, cassava and okra. Hardly anything survived. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Lira, 63.

Normally he would ask his grandchildren to help him pick the produce and, twice a week, load up his boat for a trip across the river to the city of Manacapuru. There, he’d sell it to a local supermarket chain, earning about 1,200 Brazilian reais ($245) a month to supplement his teacher’s pension.

But the area ...