RS expands irrigation systems to 120 thousand hectares

Rio Grande do Sul set a target for the State Plan for Low Carbon Agriculture (ABC+RS) to expand its irrigated area by 216 thousand hectares by 2030. From 2020 to 2024, the state has already managed to expand irrigation systems to 120 thousand hectares of cultivation, which represents 55% of the target. 

These data were presented during the ABC+RS Plan Workshop, held today (5/12), World Soil Day, in the auditorium of the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Sustainable Production and Irrigation (Seapi). The Workshop, scheduled for the entire day, is a space for the entities that are members of the Low Carbon Agriculture Steering Committee to present the activities developed in 2024.  

“With a well-structured state governance of the ABC+ Plan, we have a responsibility to go beyond the borders of our state, especially with Brazil hosting the COP next year. It will be a showcase for us to show ourselves as great defenders of low-carbon agriculture on a global level,” highlighted the deputy secretary, Márcio Madalena.

The coordinator of the State Management Committee of the Plan, Jackson Brilhante, highlighted the choice of the date for the Workshop. “Today is World Soil Day, and one of the public policies that most promotes soil conservation and its rational use is precisely the ABC+ Plan,” he stressed. 

In its second decade, the ABC+ Plan aims to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adapt to climate change. The plan encourages the adoption of sustainable production systems, practices, products and processes in eight technologies: direct planting systems, integration systems, recovery of degraded pastures, planted forests, bioinputs, animal waste management, intensive finishing and irrigation.

During the Workshop, Seapi researcher Carolina Bremm presented an overview of the actions achieved by the state for the plan, from 2020 to 2024, and the way in which the goals are monitored. “Observing current trends, the projection is that, in 2030, Rio Grande do Sul will be able to achieve the irrigation goals, reaching an additional 300 thousand irrigated hectares, and the intensive finishing goals, with 209 thousand head of cattle finished under 36 months”, she detailed. 

Jackson presented a survey on financing for ABC+ Plan technologies in Rio Grande do Sul, researching contracts signed within the scope of Pronaf ABC+, Proirriga and RenovAgro. In the 2022/2023 harvest, 101.677 hectares received financing for the adoption of ABC technologies; in 2023/2024, the area reached 259.543 hectares. “This is a huge evolution in credit uptake, the area covered has more than doubled, from one harvest to the next. This is evidence of the need to expand this front of action”, observed the coordinator.

Federal agricultural tax auditor Kleber Villela Araújo, from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa), pointed out that taking out credit is a challenge highlighted by several states for the implementation of the ABC+ Plan, but that there are different rural credit options in addition to those already known.

In the morning, there were also presentations by the Secretariat of Environment and Infrastructure (Sema), Emater/RS, Senar, Farsul, Sebrae and ILPF Network. The Workshop continues in the afternoon, with presentations by Banrisul, Banco do Brasil, BRDE, Department of Agricultural Research and Diagnosis (DDPA/Seapi), UFRGS, Irga, Embrapa Pecuária Sul, Embrapa Trigo, CCGL, Ocergs, Aliança SIPA and Department of Infrastructure and Water Use (Dinfra/Seapi).

RS Goals in ABC+

By 2030, Rio Grande do Sul has committed to expanding 600 thousand hectares with a direct planting system; one million hectares in the use of bioinputs; recover 1,43 million hectares of degraded pastures; have 200 thousand cattle in an intensive finishing system; expand integrated systems, such as crop-livestock or crop-livestock-forest, by one million hectares; expand the area of ​​planted forests by 322 thousand hectares; increase the irrigated area by 216 thousand hectares; and reach 11,8 million cubic meters of animal waste management.