Water for family farming

an analysis of public supply programs in the Jequitinhonha mineiro

Abstract

A large part of the Minas Gerais portion of the Jequitinhonha valley is in the semi-arid region. This area is subject to scarce and uncertain rainfall, which makes public programs necessary to regularize domestic and productive water supply. This article investigates water supply programs, actions and initiatives in the Jequitinhonha, selecting municipalities from the three territories (Upper, Middle and Lower) and the three biomes (Cerrado, Caatinga and Atlantic Forest) included in the official Semi-arid region. Different types and degrees of water scarcity were identified between and within biomes, territories, municipalities and communities. In these situations, the main programs and actions of civil society organizations and public bodies are rainwater harvesting cisterns, water trucks, barraginhas, and community supply systems that draw water from artesian wells, rivers, streams or springs. Water supply in communities in the Caatinga and Cerrado biomes is more dependent on public programs and socially constructed sources. In communities where the Atlantic Forest predominates, the greater presence of natural water sources, mainly streams and springs, makes it easier to find local water supply solutions and arrangements. However, the advance of climate change and the accumulated results of anthropogenic actions, have been generating situations of water scarcity in these locations too, with worse effects on lower-income rural families, due to their lower capacity to invest in reservoirs and social technologies. The article reveals that water for production has proved to be the main bottleneck for family farming in Jequitinhonha.