At an event, minister highlights Brazil's potential to expand irrigated agricultural area with sustainability

This Tuesday (14/06), in live in celebration of National Irrigated Agriculture Day, to be celebrated on June 15th, the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa), Marcos Montes, highlighted the importance of irrigation in agriculture as a technological innovation to guarantee food security and promote sustainability. 

“There is nothing that speaks of technological innovation better than irrigation itself. If we want to be the first food producing and exporting country, we need technology, especially irrigation technology. Irrigation means generating jobs, it means producing more in the same area”, said Marcos Montes.

The virtual event, organized by the Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA), aims to promote an active critical stance in relation to the importance of irrigated agriculture for sustainability in food production and for the development of food security in Brazil.

“Irrigation is a technological alternative to intensify productive activity, increase the supply of agricultural products, in the domestic and foreign markets, without the need to expand the area. The irrigation sector is highly developed in Brazil. The best existing techniques are already used by producers. The main companies in the sector operate in the country. We have all the technologies adapted to the Brazilian reality and producers have already realized the productive potential of this technique”, said the president of CNA, João Martins.

The deputy executive secretary of the Ministry of Regional Development, Alice de Carvalho, stated that irrigated agriculture is an important instrument for regional development. “It is estimated that for every 1 hectare irrigated, three jobs are created. There are also externalities and positive impacts, indicating a positive influence of irrigated production on the socioeconomic development of the country's regions”.

According to the director-president of the National Water and Basic Sanitation Agency (Ana), Veronica Sánchez, the agency has "worked in recent years to make water available in a safe way, in terms of quantity and quality, not only for agriculture, and especially irrigated agriculture, which is our largest user of water resources, but also for all uses”.

Irrigation is a technique used to meet the water demands of crops artificially, aiming for full development. This technique is part of a set of other practices used to guarantee the economic production of a given crop, with adequate management of natural resources, accompanied by technologies such as direct planting, water and soil conservation, integrated management of pests, among others.

Furthermore, the use of irrigation technology brings several benefits to agriculture and, consequently, to the world, such as increased productivity and mitigating the effects of climate on crops; improvement of socioeconomic conditions in the region where irrigated agriculture is practiced, enabling regional development; and enables increased production in the same area, avoiding the need to expand agricultural borders, and thus protecting biomes and areas of natural vegetation.

Irrigation in Brazil

Brazil is the 6th country in the ranking of countries with the largest irrigated areas in the world and one of the few countries in the world with the capacity to triple the irrigated area. China, India and the United States occupy the top positions. According to a study by the Luiz de Queiroz School of Agriculture - USP, Brazil has the potential to irrigate around 55 million hectares, on an environmentally sustainable basis.

“Irrigation contributes not only to increasing humanity’s food security, due to the fact that it is possible to produce up to four times more food in the same area when using irrigated systems, but also to a major global discussion called sustainability”, highlighted the secretary -deputy for Innovation, Sustainable Development and Irrigation at Mapa, Cléber Soares, highlighting the need for technology today. 

“So much so that Mapa included irrigated systems in the ABC+ Program as a goal of having at least 2030 million hectares of irrigated systems by 13. When we irrigate, we increase crop efficiency and consequently mitigate greenhouse gases”, he added.

The Ministry of Agriculture is one of the drivers of the National Irrigation Policy and works to increase irrigated areas, bringing resilience to rural producers with water and soil conservation. By the year 2050, the world will demand an increase in food by 60% and water by 40%, according to FAO.

With this in mind, the Secretariat for Innovation, Sustainable Development and Irrigation – SDI is preparing the National Irrigated Agriculture Program – “Irriga+”, which will integrate the Federal Government's actions to promote irrigation in Brazil. The objective of the program is to overcome the bottlenecks identified in the various sectors involved and promote the use of irrigated agriculture on a sustainable basis and in priority areas.

Also present at the event were the deputy executive secretary of the Ministry of Regional Development, Alice de Carvalho, and the director-president of the National Water and Basic Sanitation Agency, Veronica Sánchez.