Apropriação desigual da água na Chapada do Apodi: espoliação, privatização e exportação

Abstract

In the face of the many cases of environmental conflicts caused by the strong scenario of globalization and anthropic interference in the environment, the environmental issue has gained relevance. Natural resources and in particular freshwater, in addition to a nicely vital, has become one of the main elements demanded and disputed by agribusiness. With the government incentive to expand this model in the Brazilian semi-arid region, through subsidies and infrastructure works, the distribution and use of water have occurred to the benefit of companies, making it difficult for farmers to produce a significant portion of the food consumed in the parents. In view of the above, the objective of this research is to characterize aspects and the dimension of the environmental conflict around water between agribusiness and family agriculture in the Chapada do Apodi (CE) using the Water Footprint method in agricultural production, an application of semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The study area comprises Chapada do Apodi, Ceará, in the Limoeiro do Norte and Quixeré cities, the main agricultural centers in the region. In this territory is installed the PIJA that covers an area of 2,421 km² in the Ceará portion of the Chapada. For the calculate the blue Water Footprint (stored water, which competes with human consumption), green (waters from rainfall) and gray (water used to dilute the pollutants), was used production data of banana (Musa spp), guava (Psidium guavaja), papaya (Carica papaya), watermelon (Citullus lanatus) and melon (Cucumis melo) cultivated by agribusiness companies, as well as food produced by family farmers in backyards productive. The results obtained revealed that the distribution of water in the Chapada do Apodi has been taking place for the benefit of agribusiness, since the PIJA has explored the equivalent of 3,178 water trucks per day for a year with a storage capacity of 25 m³, while the rural communities of Tomé and km 60 were supplied with a single water truck per week. The Water Footprint proved to be a tool capable of quantifying the uses of water in agriculture and thus giving visibility to the problem of water injustice in the rural communities of Chapada do Apodi.