Area irrigated by central pivots in Brazil reaches 1,6 million hectares

Central pivots have consolidated themselves as the main Brazilian irrigation system, surpassing the flood method adopted for rice cultivation in the South Region. In 2020, 1,6 million hectares in the country had the equipment. This is one of the results of the work “Georeferencing of central irrigation pivots in Brazil: base year 2020”, authored by Embrapa Milho and Sorgo researchers Daniel Pereira Guimarães and Elena Charlotte Landau.  

According to the researchers, the importance of work of this nature is linked to the possibility of monitoring in almost real time the status of use, inactive or in operation, as it provides information on agricultural production and the management of water resources. Irrigated agriculture is the main source of water supply from springs. 

Today, the country's irrigated agricultural areas correspond to less than 20% of the total cultivated area and produce more than 40% of food, fiber and bioenergy crops, numbers that demonstrate the contribution of this method to food security. Furthermore, they show an increase in productivity per unit area and the possibility of off-season production, which contributes to reducing the expansion of the agricultural frontier and opening up new market opportunities. 

Still positive aspects of the irrigation system include the generation of jobs in the countryside, the creation of income on small properties and the diversification of production. For rainfed crops, in the Brazilian Semiarid region, irrigation provides improvements in quality, standardization of products and production in high-risk areas.

In addition to large crops, such as soybeans and corn, a large part of industrial tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, coffee in the Cerrado areas, onions, garlic and sugar cane are produced under the central pivots. “This equipment also encourages the cultivation of winter crops such as wheat and barley in the Cerrados region. Under irrigated conditions, wheat has shown high productivity, including in the Brazilian semi-arid region, indicating the potential of irrigation to reduce imports of this cereal”, says Guimarães.

High concentration of irrigation centers in Brazil

Daniel Guimarães highlights, however, that there is a high tendency for irrigation centers to be concentrated in Brazil. “More than half of the area irrigated by central pivots in Brazil is located in the hydrographic basins of the Middle São Francisco, where the municipal hubs of Paracatu and Unaí, in Minas Gerais, and São Desidério, Barreiras and Mucugê, in Bahia, are located. This concentration area also includes Alto Paranaíba, in Minas Gerais, and the Paranapanema River basin, in São Paulo”.

Another fact that draws attention is that 1/4 of the area irrigated by central pivots is located in just ten municipalities, covering more than 400 thousand hectares. Four municipalities have more than 15% of their areas occupied by central pivots: Itaí-SP (17,83%), Santa Juliana-MG (15,85%), Casa Branca-SP (15,39%) and Romaria -MG (15,08%).

“What catches our attention in the current survey is the significant growth of central pivots in Mato Grosso. Although the climate is favorable to the production of two annual harvests under a rainfed regime, that is, without the use of irrigation, the gains in productivity, viability of a third harvest and minimization of losses due to the occurrence of dry spells have contributed to this expansion. There is also an increase in the implementation of small central pivots with irrigated areas of less than ten hectares”, points out Guimarães.