Brazilians struggling with worst drought in decades

Global Business

Brazil is coping with its worst drought in decades. In big cities like Sao Paulo, some people are already dealing with water shortages and fear more hardship lies ahead. In the countryside, the agricultural industry is taking a hit, too. CCTV America’s Paulo Cabral reported this story from Sao Paolo.

Cantareira Lake is the main water reservoir for the greater Sao Paulo region. It’s now less than 10 percent full and dropping fast. Brazil’s National Water Agency has already stated that only an improbable “deluge” during this upcoming rainy season could bring the lake back to a more acceptable 20 percent full. At best, 2015 will be a tough year in terms of water.

“We have 20 million people living here and so we have a very low per capita volume of water. And for the last five years the government has been planning on expanding the water system but the works are not ready yet and the drought came,” said Monica Porto, environmental engineer at University of Sao Paolo.

Drinking water is not the only problem. Farmers in Brazil’s south and southeast are feeling the drought’s effect on crops.

In the state of Sao Paulo, harvests are down. Soybean production dropped 17 percent this past year and corn production dropped nearly 26 percent.

“Not only is the rainy season late, but the little rain that is falling is very sparse. So this has serious impacts on productivity and on total output. I am particularly pessimistic about soy production There are areas where farmers lost fields to drought and need to replant them,” Agricultural Economist Amarillys Romano said.


Rachel Biderman of the World Resources Institute discusses Brazil’s water crisis

CCTV America’s Rachelle Akuffo interviewed Rachel Biderman, a senior advisor to the World Resources Institute in Brazil, about the current drought.