Optimal use of water works miracles in semi-arid region of north-east Brazil
Cattle ranching has been severely affected by drought in Brazi’s Northeast region, but it has not only survived but has made a comeback in the Jacuípe river basin thanks to an optimal use of water.
José Antonio Borges, who owns 98 hectares of land and 30 cows in Ipirá, one of the 14 municipalities in the basin, in the north- eastern state of Bahia, almost tripled his milk production over the last two years, up to 400 litres per day, without increasing his herd.
To achieve this, he was assisted by technicians from Adapta Sertão, a project promoted by a coalition of organisations under the co- ordination of the Human Development Network ( Redeh), based in Rio de Janeiro.
“If I wake up and I don’t hear the cows mooing, I cannot live,” said Borges to emphasise his vocation that prevented him from abandoning cattle farming in the worst moments of the drought which in the last six years lashed the semi- arid ecoregion, an area of low rainfall in the interior of the Brazilian Northeast.
But his wife, Eliete Brandão Borges, did give up and moved to Ipirá, the capital city of the municipality, where she works as a seamstress. Their 13-yearold son lives in town with her, in order to study. But he does not rule out returning to the farm, “if a good project comes up, like raising chickens.”
Borges, who “feels overwhelmed after a few hours in the city,” points out as factors for the increased dairy productivity the forage cactus (Opuntia ficusindica Mill), a species from Mexico, which he uses as a food supplement for the cattle, and the second daily milking.
“The neighbours called me crazy for planting the cactus in an intensive way,” he said. “We used to use it, but we planted it more spread out.” Today, at the age of 39, Borges is an example to be followed and receives visits from other farmers interested in learning about how he has increased his productivity.
He started after being taken to visit another property that used intensive planting, in an effort to convince him, said Jocivaldo Bastos, the Adapta Sertão technician who advised him. “Actually I don’t use cacti,” Borges acknowledged when he learned about the innovative tecnique.
The thornless, droughtresistant cactus became a lifesaving source of forage for livestock during drought, and is an efficient way to store water during the dry season in the Sertão, the popular name for the driest area in the Northeast, which also covers other areas of the sparsely populated and inhospitable interior of Brazil.
Also extending through the semi- arid region is the construction of concrete tanks designed to capture rainwater, which cost 12,000 reais ( RM12,900) and can store up to 70,000 litres a year. With this money, 0.4 hectares of cactus can be planted, equivalent to 121,000 litres of water a year, according to a study by Adapta Sertão.
But that requires attention to the details, such as fertilisers, drip irrigation, clearing brush and selecting seedlings. Borges “lost everything” from his first intensive planting of the Opuntia forage cactus.
Then he received advice from agricultural technician Bastos and currently has three hectares of cactus plantations and plans to expand.
At the beginning, he was frightened by the need to increase investments, previously limited to 500 Brazilian reais ( US$ 142) per month. Now he spends twelve times more, but he earns gross revenues of 13,000 reais ( US$ 3,700), according to Bastos. The second milking, in the afternoon, was also key for Normaleide de Oliveira, a 55- year- old widow, to almost double her milk production. Today it reaches between 150 and 200 liters a day with only 12 dairy cows, on her farm located 12 km from Pintadas, the city in the centre of the Jacuípe basin.
“It is the milk that provides the income I live on,” said the farmer, who owns 30 more cattle. “I used to have 60 in total, but I sold some because of the drought, which almost made me give it all up,” she said.
The Jacuípe basin is seen as privileged compared to other parts of the semi-arid Northeast. The rivers have dried up, but in the drilled wells there is abundant water that, when pumped, irrigates the crops and drinking troughs.
Oliveira has the advantage of having two natural ponds on her property, one of which never completely dried up during the six years of drought.