Retrospective 2023: producers want to recover affected areas in the South

Small agricultural producers in Vale do Taquari, which extends to 40 municipalities in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul, are suffering losses caused by the passage, in September, of an extratropical cyclone that caused heavy rains.

The bad weather that hit the state resulting in the Taquari River flooding continued until November. The losses caused by soybean, corn, wheat, cassava and tobacco crops are not the only ones. The producers lost cattle, pigs and chickens, in addition to beef cattle and milk production. Vale do Taquari was the hardest hit area in the state.

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The coordinator of the Federation of Agricultural Workers in Rio Grande do Sul (Fetag), in the Taquari Valley, Marcos Hinrichsen, said that it is still necessary to analyze the quality of the soil after the erosion caused by the floods.

“[É] an assessment of a lot of damage in relation to soil erosion, because the torrential rains took a lot of good land away. A lot of soil quality was lost. We have been worried about how we can recover the land to continue producing, apart from the issue of animals with a very large loss, houses and warehouses affected”, he said in an interview with Brazil Agency.

After the period of rain and damage survey, the recovery work is intense. The coordinator highlighted that the impacts between producers are different. It all depends on what was lost. The effort to recover is starting with the planting of soybeans on some properties.

“As these are small areas, the farmer needs to plant quickly because he depends on it. He organized himself. It is not possible to say that they are 100%, but in what is possible he is structuring and planting again. Each case is different,” he stated, adding that the result of crop losses will be a blow to the grain harvest, as has already occurred with the loss of 80%, 90% of wheat in the region.

Losses

According to Hinrichsen, producers are investing within their means, but actions by federal, state and municipal governments have been taken to improve the condition of those who suffered losses. The profile of the region is small properties of up to 15 hectares. “Even those who didn’t lose it due to the river’s floods, lost it due to excessive rain”, he emphasized.

Soil recovery is supported by state government programs on a subsidized basis, with land analysis and necessary fertilization. Banco do Brasil opened a line of credit to help producers, Caixa is developing a housing program in the calamity format and there are also donations that are reaching families.

“There are several fronts worked on by bodies from the federal, state and municipal governments, as far as possible to help families make their properties viable and continue producing”, he highlighted.

According to the union leader, it is not yet possible to assess how long the recovery will take. “Each property is a reality. Sometimes the river takes more than one and in the other it works in a different way. There are cases that I believe will take years to completely recover if there is not another flood. Others don’t need it as much,” he explained, recalling that during the three years before 2023, farmers suffered from drought.

Hinrichsen noted that the state had not experienced such intense rainfall for a long time and this discouraged producers. “Many farmers are psychologically shaken and we need to understand that our greatest asset is life and we have to rebuild our Taquari Valley, which is so thriving and with a very positive economy and a lot of work,” he said.

Climate changes

The rains hit Rio Grande do Sul at the same time that intense heat waves were occurring in the Southeast and Central-West. These phenomena have the same explanation: the worrying climate changes affecting the planet.

“Drought and excessive rain need to be on the agenda of the union movement in family farming. Climate change is present and we need to debate how we can organize ourselves so as not to have these surprises that we are having now”, she maintained.

“If we look outside Brazil, this is also happening. In our common home, on our planet, the situation is worrying. We need to discuss this.”

Temperature

The climatologist from the Department of Geography at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Francisco Aquino, said that – if it is not the hottest year – 2023 will repeat 2016, which reached a higher level. That year, assessments by scientists from NASA and the United States Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (Noaa) indicated that it was the hottest year since 1880, when historical temperature records began. According to the data, the average temperature of the earth's surface in 2016 reached 0.94ºC above the previously recorded average: 13.9%.

For the professor, 2023 is a totally anomalous year with behavior completely different from others considered warmer until now, which, in his opinion, is surprising that the year remained – from June onwards – with high temperatures.

“It’s scaring us to see so much energy in the oceans and atmosphere [em razão de] climate changes that are leading to the occurrence of these extreme events, around the world, including in Brazil”, he stated.

According to the climatologist, the complex combination of so many phenomena at the same time in the Amazon and in the South, Central-West and Southeast regions, which can be popularly called a “perfect storm”, unfortunately, was experienced in 2023 across the planet, combining warming from the oceans to the occurrence of El Niño. “The two combine to generate extreme events of all types,” she emphasized.

Aquino also said that a strong El Niño can only generate an impact of the magnitude that occurred because there is a warmer ocean and atmosphere, in addition to the current level of deforestation between the Amazon, Cerrado and Pantanal. Between 2020 and 2022, the phenomenon La Nina caused severe adverse events. While the Amazon was experiencing intense rain, the south was facing drought.

Permanence

The action of El Niño can still be felt in 2024. According to the climatologist, oceanic and atmospheric models indicate that there is a 50% chance that the phenomenon will be present in May and, from June onwards, the so-called neutral configuration that will begin to occur. means a return to normal.

“The detail is that it will already be in the middle of 2024, which means that the winter in southern Brazil may still have an influence of rain slightly above average and have temperatures and drought or a decrease in rainfall in the Amazon region. One El Niño strong or a El Niño medium can generate an important impact”, he assessed, highlighting that this panorama is what is currently being observed for the next six months, which does not rule out the possibility of changes.

Reflexes

Among so many effects, heat waves in the southeast and the rupture of a water main in Baixada Fluminense led the Rio de Janeiro State Water and Sewage Company (Cedae) to postpone the annual preventive maintenance of the Guandu System three times in November.

Integrated by the Guandu Water Treatment Station and the two treated water subsystems Marapicu and Lameirão, the Guandu System is res
ponsible for supplying more than 10 million people in Rio de Janeiro and Baixada Fluminense. Finally, the service began on December 5th and was completed in the early hours of the following day.

Death in Rio

The intense heat was felt by fans of American singer Taylor Swift, who – on the first day of three performances, last November – waited hours under the strong sun to enter the Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium, Engenhão, in Rio, to witness a show by the artist.

The public also complained about the lack of water at the site and the obligation by TF4 – the event organizer – to leave bottles of water at the entrance to the stadium. The public had to buy water at high prices inside the stadium.

Right at the beginning of the show on Friday night (17), psychology student Ana Clara Benevides Machado, aged 23, died. She had two cardiorespiratory arrests. Biologist Daniele Menin, who with Ana Clara left Rondonópolis, Mato Grosso, to see the artist, said that her friend felt ill during the second song of the performance and fainted. Ana Clara was taken to the Salgado Filho Municipal Hospital, also in the north zone, but she did not survive.

After the death, the show scheduled for Saturday (17) was postponed to Monday (20), a rainy day with cooler temperatures, which, at least, reduced the discomfort of the public who went to Engenhão.