Developing Brazil's Natural Resources

Developing Brazil's Natural Resources

One of the best kept secrets in the world of agriculture - the development at long last of the enormous Valley of the San Francisco River - is finally being revealed around these twin Brazilian cities.

A small group of journalists and importers invited to the International Fruit Fair in Sao Paulo was also flown here via the capitol city of Brasilia for a firsthand look at the valley of what is often called the Nile of Brazil.

We outsiders knew that Brazil, in area the world's fourth largest country - larger than the entire continent of Europe - possesses great natural resources.

And we also knew that much of the country's future lies in development of the northeastern interior.

Beyond such general notions, however, there were few specifics - and certainly nothing to prepare us for the San Francisco River Valley.

If you look at a map of Brazil and pinpoint the capitol of Brasilia, you will find southeast of it a gathering of tributary streams that consolidate into the big river, the San Francisco. From that remote beginning in a jumble of red-earth hills, the river flows gradually northeastward and empties into the Atlantic.

Along the way the San Francisco travels 2,700 kilometers, twice the length of the Colorado River, through a valley the size of France.

For more than two thirds of its length the river is navigable - which means ready and inexpensive transport for the fruits, vegetables, grains and cotton that it is now producing, after centuries of lying virtually untouched by man.

In its natural resource state the valley is covered by a jungle of low-growing trees and thorny bushes. Along the river it is sometimes swampy, but for the most part it is dry.

Armadillos and snakes share the jungle with lizards and buzzards. For all but one or two months of the year - when fierce rains fall - a hot sun beats down from a virtually cloudless sky.

Past years found ranchers running a few cattle of the zebu variety in this jungle, and herds of goats seem to thrive on the browse.

But always there was the big river, flowing 45 feet deep and, at Juazeiro-Petrolina, three-quarters of a mile wide - a steady source of water that could, if the land were cleared and planted, irrigate vast fields, orchards, and vineyards.

The Brazilian government took up this challenge in the 1970s, building a dam on the San Francisco which, viewed from above, reminds a Californian of Shasta Dam, with the great lake behind it.

Next came the building of canals, and the establishment, with government help, of 36 agricultural projects.

One of these projects, Jaiba, will be the largest irrigation project in Latin America, providing water to 240,000 acres.

For all that has been gained in recent years, however, the San Francisco Valley is still relatively undeveloped.

Jaiba, which is designed to provide irrigated land for 3,000 users, has only 75 farmers settled now, on a mere 1,200 acres. Of the valley's 74 million acres, only 200,000 are irrigated by canals and wells.

Eventually, if government plans succeed, the total will be increased tenfold.

The cultivated areas are still only green enclaves in a dominant jungle, but the potential of the region is clear.

Where it is planted and irrigated, the valley reminded this Californian strongly of the San Joaquin Valley.

Perhaps that helps explain why California interests are already becoming involved in production, processing and development of the infrastructure along the San Francisco River.