ANA and EMBRAPA identify growth in central pivot irrigation in Brazil

Agriculture irrigated by central pivots has shown strong and persistent growth in recent decades, which accelerated even further from 2010, reaching an area of ​​1,476 million hectares and, in 2017, the equivalent of 2,5 times the territory of the District Federal. This total is 47 times larger than the area mapped in 1985 and triple that recorded in 2000, when 31 thousand and 490,5 thousand hectares were recorded respectively. This is one of the conclusions pointed out by the Survey of Irrigated Agriculture by Center Pivots in Brazil, produced by the National Water Agency (ANA) in partnership with the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), launched on July 4 in Cristalina (GO).

Equipped area and number of central pivots by region (1985-2017)

 Currently Minas Gerais, Goiás, Bahia and São Paulo account for 77% of the total area – respectively 31%, 18%, 15% and 13%. The survey also indicates that new central pivot hubs in Mato Grosso and Rio Grande do Sul emerged more recently, with growth at a faster pace than the other states, resulting in 8% of the national area for each of the two units of the Federation.

The three main irrigating municipalities – Unaí (MG), Paracatu (MG) and Cristalina (GO) – are bordering and form the largest concentration of pivots in Brazil with 2.558 pivots occupying 191 thousand hectares. According to the study by ANA and EMBRAPA, the growth in the use of central pivots is significant in most municipalities where the technology is used, exceeding 150% frequently between 2000 and 2017. In the six largest states, there are also municipalities that their areas irrigated by pivots more than quintupled (+500%) in the same period, with emphasis on territories in Mato Grosso and Rio Grande do Sul.

The results of the historical survey allowed the delimitation of the 17 main national poles of center pivot irrigation, which concentrate 59% of the irrigated area. According to the study, Oeste Baiano is the pole with the largest area covered by pivots. Also in Bahia, the Mucugê-Ibicoara hub has the highest concentration (or density) of pivots. The pole on the São Marcos River has the second largest area and the second highest density, being the most intensive in the country.

An assessment of the activation rates of the pivots throughout the year was also carried out, demonstrating that the areas are more occupied with crops during the rainy season. However, the equipment is rarely used, being used more to protect against climate risks. In the main pivot producing areas, the greatest demand for irrigation tends to occur in the second harvest (or off-season), when the occupancy rate is still high and rainfall decreases throughout the crop cycle, requiring equipment to be activated more frequently. . In the dry period, water use is also significant, as equipment activation reaches its maximum, but the area equipped with crops drops to lower levels, in the order of 30 to 40% of the total area.

The update of the Survey of Irrigated Agriculture by Center Pivots in Brazil, whose first edition was launched in 2016, will contribute to the construction of the second edition of the Atlas Irrigation: Water Use in Irrigated Agriculture, ANA's most comprehensive publication on irrigated agriculture scheduled to be launched in 2020. The Atlas is a technical reference on Brazilian irrigation in its interface with water resources and its first edition was published in 2017.

The characterization and analysis of the historical series and the updated mapping of pivots are fundamental subsidies for planning, in order to guarantee water security for the sector and promote regional development, since central pivots should continue to lead the expansion of the irrigated area in the Country.

In the first version of the Irrigated Agriculture by Center Pivots Survey in Brazil, pivots were mapped in Brazil based on high and medium spatial resolution satellite images in 2014. Since then, ANA and EMBRAPA have worked on improving the first pivot mapping central data and the extension of the time series, resulting in a historical database. Therefore, the second edition details the evolution of the number of equipment and the area equipped for pivot irrigation from 1985 to 2017 throughout Brazil.

Disaggregated results of the mapping of center pivots, by municipality, as well as interactive maps and indicator panels, can be accessed through the National System of Information on Water Resources (SNIRH), at www.snirh.gov.br, in the Water Uses section, or through the exclusive links  to follow.

Posting on the link.

PowerBI (data dashboard in the link).

Interactive Maps at the link.