ABSTRACT

In the São Francisco river valley in Brazil, irrigation schemes for smallholders were created in the 1960s in order to promote rural development. A little later, in the 1970s, entrepreneurial farms were expected to grow commercial crops, to enable the financial sustainability of these schemes (World Bank, 2002). A regional public development office, Companhia de Desenvolvimento dos Vales do São Francisco e do Parnaíba (CODEVASF, the development company of the São Francisco river valley), was in charge of the operation and maintenance of these schemes from the 1960s until water management transfer started in the 1980s.