Multiple Uses of Water

There are many sectors that use water resources as a basic input for their activities. In Brazil the main ones are:

Agriculture and Irrigation

Of the 120 million hectares that are potentially available for agriculture, only about 3 million ha are currently under irrigation, although estimates show that 29 million hectares are suitable for this practice. Irrigation is new to Brazil, and in 1970 there were less than 800,000 hectares of irrigated land, used mainly as rice paddies in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and less intensively in some areas of public irrigation in the northeast. Irrigation has really only taken off since then, with the implementation of public investment policies in infrastructure for irrigation, energy transmission and distribution, and finance for equipment and day-to-day expenses.

Irrigation in Brazil is developing along different models. In the South, Southeast and Center-West regions, private irrigation predominates with emphasis on planting rice (in the coastal hydrographic basins of the South and Uruguay) and grain crops (Paraná, Upper Paraguay, Upper São Francisco and the coastal hydrographic basins of the Southeast). In these areas investment depends on the return obtained from the sale of the irrigated crops. In the northeast the public sector is the main investor, seeking to stimulate regional development in an area with serious social problems. In this latter region investments in the cultivation of traditional crops such as corn and beans haven’t given the expected return and focus has moved to irrigated fruit production with greater added value and economic return. This has altered the characteristics of both seasonal and total annual demand for water. These projects are being implemented along perennial rivers such as the São Francisco.