DROUGHT AND IRRIGATION IN NORTH-EAST BRAZIL by Anthony L. Hall Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) to the University of Glasgow, May, 1976 ProQuest Number: 13804083 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 13804083 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 CONTENTS PAGE Acknowledgements .......... •........ 3 Abbreviations ............ 4 Abstract ..... 6 List of Tables 3 Sketch Map: North-East Brazil ...... 10 CHAPTER I brought in North-East Brazil - A General Picture • • • 11 II ,f0 Problema da Seca": Part One: The Climatic Problem ........ 35 Part Two: The.Socio-Economic Problem of the brought .... ••••.......... 49 III The Origins and State of Irrigation in North-East Brazil .................... 87 IY Employment and Stabilization of the Rural Population ........ ......... ..... Ill Y Rural Incomes .....•••••• 131 VI Agricultural Production ...•••........... •••• 154 VII Irrigation Against the brought: Summary, Conclusions and Alternative Strategies .......................... ...... 173 APPENDIX: Tables 1 - 18 .................................... 206-24 225 BIBLIOGRAPHY ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is based on fieldwork carried out in North-East Brazil from September, 1974 until November, 1975* I should like to express my gratitude to the Ministry of Overseas Development, whose research award made this field trip possible. My thanks are also due to the Instituto Joaquim Nabuco de Pesquisas Sociais, Recife^ for their support, and in particular to Clovis Cavalcanti and his staff in the Department of Economics. I would also like to thank the Carnegie Trust and the Anglo-Brazilian Society for their financial help. A two-year research scholarship from the University of Glasgow, to whom my thanks are also due, enabled me to prepare and write up the research. A special vote of thanks is reserved for my supervisor, Simon Mitchell, whose consistent help and encouragement made the research task far less daunting. Lastly, but by no means least, I wish to thank Professor Werner Baer of the University of Illinois for his assistance and constructive comments. Anthony Hall, Glasgow, May 1976 - 4 - A B B R E V I ATIONS ASMIC Associasion pour 1 ’Organisacion de Missions de Cooperacion Technique BB Banco do Brasil BNB Banco do Nordeste do Brasil CETREINO Centro Estadual de Treinamento para o Nordeste CHESF Companhia Hidroelectrica do Vale do Sao Franqisco CODEVASF Companhia de Desenvolvimento do Vale do Sao Francisco DNOCS Departamento Nacional de Obras Contra as Secas DNOS Departamento Nacional de Obras de Saneamento FIPE Fundaq&o Instituto de Pesquisas Economicas FUNRURAL Fundo de Assistencia para o Trabalhador Rural GEIDA Grupo Executivo de Irrigaqao para o Desenvolvimento Agricola GTDN Grupo de Trabalho para o Desenvolvimento do Nordeste GVJ Grupo de Estudo de Base do Vale do Jaguaribe IBGE Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica IBRD International Bank for Reconstruction and Development IFOCS Inspectoria Federal de Obras Contra as Secas IJNPS Instituto Joaquim Nabuco de Pesquisas Sociais INCRA Instituto Brasileiro de Coloniza^ao e Reforma Agraria IOCS Inspectoria de Obras Contra as Secas IPEA Instituto de Planejamento Economico e Social IRYDA Instituto Nacional de Reforma y Desarrollo Agrario MINTER Ministerio do Interior \ PROTSRRA Programa de Redistribui^o de Terras e Estimulos a Agro-Industria do Nordeste PPI Programa Plurianual de Irrigaqao SCET Societe pour l'Equipement de Territoire-Cooperacion SEPLAN Secretaria de Planejamento SIRAC Serviqos Integrados de Assesoria e Consultoria SUDENE Superintenaencia do Desenvolvimento do Nordeste SUVALE Superintendencia do Vale do Sac Francisco USAID United States Agency for International Aid and Development 6 ABSTRACT This thesis analyses the efficacy of DNOCS irrigation schemes against problems of drought in the sertao, the interior of North-East Brazil, Chapter I traces the history of drought effects in the region and describes the institutional framework set up in response. Chapter II distinguishes conceptually between the purely climatic aspect of drought phenomena and what I term the 'socio-economic1 problem of drought, I argue that the so-called 'drought problem' of the North-East is not only, nor even principally, a climatic problem. The human tragedy of the drought is a direct product of the way in which the rural structure of the sertao places particular groups of rural producers, notably sharecroppers and smallholders, at the economic margin, vulnerable to even the slightest variation in the rainfall cycle. Subsequent chapters examine the effectiveness of current irrigation strategy in solving problems of rural poverty, unemployment and rural-urban migration traditionally associated with the drought. Chapter III looks at the history of irrigation in the region and lays out in detail the goals which irrigation planners (BNOCS and GSIDA) have established; that is, (l) to create rural employment and tie people to the land, stabilizing the population and lessening rural-urban migration, (2) to increase rural incomes, and (3) to increase agricultural production of high-value crops which would generate increased incomes and justify the heavy capital expenditure into irrigation. The evidence from three case-studies of BNOCS projects suggests that these goals are not being met. Chapter IV shows that irrigation is capital-intensive and creates few permanent jobs. Recruits to schemes come overwhelmingly from the humid valleys and have rarely been forced ~ 7 - off their land, either onto emergency work fronts or to the towns, because of drought. Poorer farmers from the less protected and drier caatinga away from the valleys, those most vulnerable, do not benefit from irrigation. Moreover, the implementation of schemes in densely populated valleys has resulted in the dislocation of from three to six times the number of families absorbed by the projects. As DNOCS has no relocation policy for the dispossessed, more unemployment than jobs is created and the rural-urban drift is accentuated. In Chapter V it emerges that only 5% of irrigation farmers enjoy the high incomes predicted for them. Most are in debt to DNOCS. The major reasons for this highly skewed income distribution are examined. Chapter VI shows that DNOCS has been largely unsuccessful in producing and marketing high-value fruits and vegetables but relies on commercializing crops which are already traditional to the sertao. thus severely limiting the income-earning capacity of projects. Relations between the DNOCS administration and irrigation farmers are examined and the agency’s policy of ’cooperativism’ is considered. The final chapter concludes that current irrigation policy is at best marginally positive and at worst marginally negative in relation to the problem of drought as defined earlier on. In order for anti-drought strategy to be effective it must be aimed specifically at the weakest and most vulnerable groups, and not benefit the already privileged. Modifications to existing irrigation techniques, as well as anti-drought policies not based on irrigation, are suggested. - 8 - LIST OF T A B L E S nun Title PAGE 1 Variations in total production, N.E. Brazil, 1948 - 1970 ................................... 206 2 Variations in the volume and prices of major crops during drought years ........ 207 3 Origins of work front recruits compared with general occupational structure, sertao, 1970 •••• 208 4 Origins of work front recruits by property size compared with general distribution of landholdings, sertao, 1970 .................. 209 5 Geographical origins of work front recruits, sertao, 1970 . ............... 2^0 6 Differences in the value of agricultural production at constant prices in drought year’s compared with preceeding y e a r ....... 211 7 Size and value of cattle heards (bovine) 1969 and 1970 ................................. 212 8 Income composition and production units by property size, sertao, 1969 - 1970 (%) ......... 213 9 Rural areas by types of tenancy arrangement: the sertao and agreste of Pernambuco compared...... 214 10 Changes in the distribution of Landholdings, sertao, 1940 - 1970 ••*........... 2^5 11 Increases in areas of rural establishments, sertao, 1940 - 1970 ••.....•••••• 216 12 Changes in the rural labour structure, sertSo, I960 - 1970 ........................... 21? 13 Bank of Brazil agricultural loans, Brazil and North-East, 1968 - 1973 ........ PECR0 and CRAN special credit for N.E. agriculture, 1971 .... 22^ Federal funding for irrigation to N.E, agencies, 1966 - 1970 .................. 22^ Federal funding for irrigation to N.E. agencies, 1966 - 1970 ........ Comparative crop yields Prospective demand and planned output; N.E. irrigation projects, selected crops NORTH-EAST BRAZIL /a a r a w HAo Paka.Cs/k. p£XHAMBMe.o Sh«{"c townct^rCea CHAPTER I DROUGHT IE THE! NORTH-EAST - A GENERAL PICTURE Drought in North-East Brazil has given rise to widespread human suffering for at least two hundred years, hut only