CNA presents priority agendas for the irrigation sector

The president of the National Irrigation Commission of the Brazilian Agriculture and Livestock Confederation (CNA), David Schmidt, met this week with parliamentarians and representatives of the Ministries of Agriculture and Regional Development, in Brasília, to present the sector's priority agendas.

Schmidt met with deputies Coronel Meira (PL/PE), Cabo Gilberto (PL/PB) and Yury do Paredão (PL/CE) and senator Sergio Moro (União/PR). Technical advisors Jordana Girardello, from the Irrigation Commission, and Suelen Zottele, from the Institutional Relations Office, participated in the meetings.

One of the topics discussed was the current situation of irrigation in Brazil, in addition to the challenges for 2023 and the processing of bills dealing with the sector.

David Schmidt highlighted as one of the priorities the approval of Bill 2168/2021, which considers irrigation and animal watering infrastructure works, such as dams, as public utility, for the purposes of applying the Forest Code.

“The project aims to contribute to food and water security, promoting stability within rural properties for the production of crops that suffer from prolonged droughts every year, in addition to states that suffer from low rainfall, as is the case in the Northeast. ”, he stated.

According to the CNA representative, irrigation is a tool for social and economic development for needy regions and the only way to verticalize production, that is, to increase production within the same space, helping to sustain the production process with carbon sequestration. , nitrogen fixation and various conservation practices, in addition to not needing to expand into new areas.

Energy

The president of the Irrigation Commission also addressed the issue of electricity, which represents a high input in the composition of production costs, in addition to the constant risk of losing subsidies covered by the Energy Development Account (CDE).

“The lack of distribution networks that serve rural properties in quantity and quality and the enormous bureaucratic difficulty for the producer to generate their own energy (photovoltaic, wind and others) pose the imminent need for alternatives for the producer to achieve energy independence and have tariffs differentiated for food production”, says Schmidt.

Actions and projects

In the Ministries of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa) and Regional Integration and Development (MIDR), Schmidt dealt with the continuity of the actions that were being developed to promote irrigation.

At Mapa, the priority agenda was the launch of the Irriga+ Brasil program, which addresses the solution of bottlenecks in the sector throughout the country, with the aim of combating hunger and the development of the most needy regions of the country.

In Regional Development, the topic discussed was the need to continue actions in irrigated agriculture hubs, with the launch of new strategic hubs and the regulation of the Irrigation Law.

“The work of these two ministries in synergy has been fundamental for the irrigated agriculture sector to continue growing in the country. Furthermore, the implementation of the National Irrigation Council will be extremely important to propose the necessary advances in the production and growth of irrigated areas”, he concluded.