Data Insights: Brazil's major irrigation projects expected to advance in 2025

Major irrigation projects in Brazil are expected to advance in 2025 as the country faces increasingly frequent extreme weather events such as drought in the northeast region and heavy rains in parts of the south and southeast. 

BNamericas takes a look at the most recent initiatives using the forecast tool of our project database.

Tabuleiros Litorâneos (Piauí)

The regional development ministry announced the start of a public consultation on a concession for the second phase of the Tabuleiros Litorâneos irrigation project.

The consultation will be open until February 23 and will be used by the federal government to draw up the notice for the tender.

The 35-year contract is expected to involve capex of 853mn reais (US$156mn) and opex of 5.4bn reais in the municipalities of Parnaíba, Buriti Lopes and Bom Princípio do Piauí, about 350km from Teresina, capital of northeast state Piauí.

The project has two stages, with the concession of the first stage already underway. 

"The first phase of the project covered an area of 2,443 irrigable hectares, of which about 1,900ha are currently in operation. The highlight of the production is organic fruits for export to Europe and North America, such as cashew, guava, acerola, green coconut, lemon, mango and banana, as well as vegetables for the local market," the ministry said in a statement.

"The new concession involves a total area of 9,847ha, with 6,017ha of irrigable land… The concessionaire will be responsible for the installation, operation and maintenance of the common irrigation infrastructure for both phases of the project. Additionally, the concession will include the option for the transfer of land ownership, subject to performance criteria," it added.

The ministry, however, did not unveil an estimated date for publishing the notice or for the auction of the concession. 

Jequitaí hydro-agricultural project (Minas Gerais) 

According to the BNamericas project database, the Jequitaí hydro-agricultural project consists of the implementation of two multi-use dams on the Jequitaí river, in the region of Francisco Dumont, Claro dos Poções and Jequitaí in southeast state Minas Gerais.

The project is expected to involve investment of 1.5bn reais during the 35-year concession and construction is due to advance next year.

The Jequitaí consortium comprising local companies Fortaleza de Santa Teresinha and RG won the contract earlier this year.

The main works involve the construction of the two dams to store 673Mm³ of water in an area of 9,000ha.

Apart from irrigation systems, the work involves the regularization of the flow of the São Francisco river, water reserves to supply 19 municipalities and the generation of around 20MW of energy, among other benefits.

The project’s total area is 23,700ha, comprising 1,800ha of permanent preservation area, 4,500ha of legal reserve area and 17,400ha of useful area, of which 10,200 are irrigable. The estimate is that, once completed, the Jequitaí project will produce 350,000t of food per year and support around 100,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Baixio de Irecê irrigation perimeter (Bahia) 

Construction of this project started during the current quarter and ramp-up is expected for the fourth quarter of 2027, according to the BNamericas forecast tool.

The project consists of a concession for an irrigation system in the region of São Francisco, in the municipalities of Xique-Xique and Itaguaçu da Bahia in the northeast state.

The perimeter has a total area of 105,000ha, of which 48,000ha are irrigable. The area is divided into nine stages but the current project covers only stages 3 to 9 corresponding to 50,000ha, of which 31,500ha are irrigable.

The objective of the concession is to promote the development of the region and generate more than 180,000 direct or indirect jobs. The concession will be valid for 35 years and the value is put at 1.5bn reais.

RLT 210 Fundo de Investimento was awarded the concession in an auction in 2022, in which it was the only bidder. The investment fund offered a fee of 83.1mn reais for the contract.