Brasília – This Tuesday (13th), the Brazilian minister of National Integration, Fernando Bezerra Coelho, said the total irrigated crop area in the country may double in size within five years. The minister expects the new National Irrigation Policy – currently pending in the Congress – and Programa Mais Irrigação (More Irrigation Program), launched by president Dilma Rousseff, to guarantee Said expansion.
According to the minister, at present there are 5.5 hectares of irrigated land in Brazil, the vast majority of which are in private plots. Government-owned irrigated perimeters amount to 330,000 hectares, divided among the National Department for Anti-Drought Works (Dnocs, in the Portuguese acronym), the Company for Development of the São Francisco and Parnaíba Valleys (Codevasf), and state governments.
“Within a five- or six-year span we may see irrigated lands in Brazil double in size. I am confident that the new national irrigation act and this instrument for PPPs [public-private partnerships] which we are inaugurating will speed up the implementation of new irrigated areas throughout Brazil,” he said.
The More Irrigation program launched by the government provide for R$ 3 billion in federal investment and another R$ 7 billion in PPPs for projects in Brazil’s semiarid areas. The concessions will remain valid for 40 years, according to the minister.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
