Global Map of Irrigation Areas

Brazil

Area equipped for irrigation was reported to have increased from 2 656 280 ha in 1996 to 2 870 204 ha in 1998 [BR01] and 3 149 217 ha in 2001 [BR02]. Area equipped for irrigation by federal state for 2001 was taken from the same source [BR02]. For the downscaling to the municipality level irrigated areas were used as reported by the agricultural census undertaken in growing season 1995/96 [BR03]. Total area reported as irrigated by the census data base was summing up to 3 121 642 ha. Thus it can be assumed that the census publication overestimated the real extent of area equipped for irrigation at that time. Irrigation area by federal state and region reported by the census for the year 1995/1996 [BR03] and areas equipped for irrigation in 1996 and 2001 reported in [BR01] and [BR02] is shown in the table below, while area equipped for irrigation downscaled to municipality level is listed in this table.

Irrigated area was first assigned to irrigation schemes as digitized from several irrigation maps ([BR04] – [BR13]). The remaining irrigated area was assigned to cells classified on the GLC2000 land cover map for South America [BR14] as agriculture (intensive) or mosaics of agriculture and other land uses.

References

[BR01]: Werneck, J.E.F., Ferreira, R.S.A. & Christofidis, D. 1999. O uso da água para irrigação. Brasilia, Brazil, available at: http://www.cf.org.br/cf2004/irrigacao.doc, 10/08/2006.
[BR02]: Agência Nacional de Águas. 2003. Plano nacional de recursos hídricos. Online publication, available at: http://www.ana.gov.br/pnrh/index.htm, 10/08/2006.
[BR03]: Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE). 2002. Censo Agropecuário 1995-1996. Census publication available online at: http://www1.ibge.gov.br/, 04/11/2003.
[BR04]: CODEVASF. 1999. Mapa da irrigacao publica - perimetros irrigados do Vale do Rio Sao Francisco. Maps available online at: http://www.codevasf.gov.br, 12/10/1999.
[BR05]: Ministerio da Agricultura. 1979. Aptidao agricola das terras do Ceara.
[BR06]: Ministerio da Agricultura. 1979. Aptidao agricola das terras do Rio Grande do Norte.
[BR07]: Ministerio da Agricultura. 1979. Aptidao agricola das terras do Rio Grande do Norte.
[BR08]: Ministerio da Agricultura. 1979. Aptidao agricola das terras do Paraiba.
[BR09]: Ministerio da Agricultura. 1979. Aptidao agricola das terras do Pernambuco.
[BR10]: Ministerio da Agricultura. 1979. Aptidao agricola das terras do Bahia.
[BR11]: Ministerio da Agricultura. 1979. Aptidao agricola das terras do Alagoas.
[BR12]: Ministerio da Agricultura. 1979. Aptidao agricola das terras do Sergipe.
[BR13]: Ministerio da Agricultura. 1979. Aptidao agricola das terras do Rio Grande do Sul.
[BR14]: Eva, H.D., de Miranda, E.E., Di Bella, C.M., Gond, V., Huber, O., Sgrenzaroli, M., Jones, S., Coutinho, A., Dorado, A., Guimarães, M., Elvidge, C., Achard, F., Belward, A.S., Bartholomé, S., Baraldi, A., De Grandi, G., Vogt, P., Fritz, S. & Hartley, A. 2003. The land cover map for South America in the year 2000. GLC2000 database, European Commision Joint Research Centre, available at http://www-gem.jrc.it/glc2000, 10/08/2006.

Distribution of irrigated area in Brazil by State and Region: