Poor community in Northeast Brazil awaits water to start planting
In the impoverished community of Canabravinha, a district of Palestina do Cariri, in Mauriti, Ceará state, Albino Viana lives with his wife and three children. A family farmer, he grows manioc, bananas, corn, and beans and has struggled with water shortages.
Small farmer Albino Viana hopes to be able to irrigate his crops with the waters of the São Francisco river. – Marcelo Camargo / Agência Brasil
Even though he and his family live close to the São Francisco integration canal, they are unable to irrigate their production.
“To bring water from the canal, you need energy, which is expensive. So we need well water, but we’ve been having to reach deeper and deeper to get it, and work has become difficult. We can have irrigation when the Quixabinha dam gets water,” he said.
The Quixabinha dam is one of the sites undergoing renovation by the federal government to bring water back to the region’s residents and farmers—a kind of complementary work to the São Francisco River Transposition Program.
On Monday (May 26), Brazil’s Minister for Integration and Regional Development Waldez Góes visited the area, which is under renovation work. Once fully operational, the dam should bring water to 45 thousand people in the region.
Albino hopes there will also be investment in solar energy for small producers.
“It would be the best solution for us. Because, as president of the [residents’] association, I tried to draw up a project to get solar energy. The community here is really poor, and the people find the energy bill too expensive. For 10m³ of water, you pay BRL 50—and that’s way too little for a farm,” he pointed out.
Treated water
Minister Waldez Góes attends the inauguration of the Palestina do Cariri water system. – Marcelo Camargo / Agência Brasil
Minister Waldez Góes also inaugurated a water supply plant in Palestina do Cariri.
“The small communities, the districts of the semi-arid region, need to be served—and [the city of] Mauriti is a great example of this. We inaugurated eight water supply systems. That’s dignity. That’s life,” he declared.
As it stands today, the residents of Palestina do Cariri receive water every other day. Damiana da Silva hopes the construction works may change this reality.
Palestina do Cariri, a district in the municipality of Mauriti, received a water supply system. – Marcelo Camargo / Agência Brasil
“I’ve been living with the drought ever since I was little. Water is lacking. And now, because of the transposition [of the São Francisco river], I believe that the water will reach Ceará,” she said.
According to the federal government, the Mauriti supply network should benefit around 32 thousand people. Systems total 24—of which 16 have been delivered, with total investments of BRL 126.1 million, BRL 112.4 million from the Ministry of Integration, and BRL 13.3 million from the state.
The visits and inauguration ceremonies are part of the Caminho das Águas Committee, which is touring municipalities benefiting from the São Francisco River Transposition Program in the states of Pernambuco, Ceará, Paraíba, and Rio Grande do Norte.
*The TV Brasil reporter and the Agência Brasil photographer traveled at the invitation of the Ministry of Integration and Regional Development.
