- Title: Portugal seduces parched investors with water, plenty of it.
- Date: 30th August 2018
- Summary: ALQUEVA, PORTUGAL (RECENT) (REUTERS) ALQUEVA ARTIFICIAL LAKE / DAM ALQUEVA ARTIFICIAL LAKE SIGN READING IN ENGLISH "ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER" VARIOUS OF ALQUEVA ARTIFICIAL LAKE VARIOUS OF ALMONDS FIELD CLOSE OF ALMONDS ON TREE (SOUNDBITE) (English) OWNER OF ALMONDS FIELDS, JOSE DARIUSH LEAL DE COSTA, SAYING: "Here in Portugal we have the Alqueva water project which has made it much easier for me to irrigate here in this farm. So we have enough water to the point where I am five years into a drought and not worried about water. In California, there is a lot of water consumption due to large cities as well as agriculture. So out here it's going to be sustainable for a bit longer." ALMONDS ON TREE VARIOUS OF ALQUEVA LAKE / DAM (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF ALQUEVA INFRASTRUCTURE COMPANY EDIA, JOSE PEDRO SALEMA, SAYING: "The expansion right now we are with the public biddings underway so some biddings are already closed, we are analysing proposals and construction will start already this year, by the end of the year, and by 2022 the expansion will be concluded and the areas will be in operation." VARIOUS OF BOAT IN LAKE (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF ALQUEVA INFRASTRUCTURE COMPANY EDIA, JOSE PEDRO SALEMA, SAYING: "Alqueva is a project to fight against desertification. For sure when we have permanent crops, when we have agriculture, we are increasing moisture content in the soil, we are increasing moisture content in the air, so we are creating in fact a green barrier that prevents the advance of the desert." OLIVE TREE FIELD VARIOUS OF WATER PUMP AT OLIVE TREE FIELD OLIVE TREES MAN CHECKING OLIVE TREES IRRIGATION DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM AMIEIRA MARINA BOAT DOCKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF AMIEIRA MARINA, JOSE LEAL DA COSTA, SAYING: "This is going to have to move forward, it's going to move forward. I think in a couple of years we will start seeing the cities growing, the industry growing around agriculture." VARIOUS OF AMIEIRA MARINA VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WORKING IN PEACH FIELD (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) FAIRFRUIT PORTUGAL CEO, JOAO SERRANO, SAYING: "We have different crops from across Europe and what we notice more here is much faster growth than in other countries with the same production variety." VARIOUS OF DRIP IRRIGATION PEOPLE JUMPING INTO THE WATER PERSON WATER SKIING PEOPLE LOOKING AT LAKE AND ONE PERSON TAKING A PHOTO PERSON TAKING PHOTO WATER SHIMMERING DUSK AT LAKE
- Embargoed: 13th September 2018 11:32
- Keywords: Climate changes drought artificial lake desertification
- Location: ALQUEVA, PORTUGAL
- City: ALQUEVA, PORTUGAL
- Country: Portugal
- Topics: Environment
- Reuters ID: LVA0018VDQFYF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: As wildfires scorched California yet again this summer, Jose Dariush Leal da Costa, a Bay Area native with Portuguese roots, was harvesting his first almonds in a sun-drenched watery oasis in south Portugal and building a peeling plant nearby.
The largest artificial lake in the European Union, the 250 sq km (97 sq miles) Alqueva, irrigates an area the size of Los Angeles, luring a growing band of foreign investors.
They seek a stable supply of water amid growing concerns about climate change fanning droughts and blazes from California to northern Europe, where wheat crops wilted this year.
European fruit growers, Spanish olive oil makers, almond and berry farmers from California and Chile, and many others are moving in to rival local farmers on irrigated lands, whose prices soared by 50 percent in the past five years.
Output growth and new jobs in the most disadvantaged region of Western Europe's poorest country showcase the benefits of investment in securing water resources, although the much-welcomed boom also risks straining the project in the long run.
The 5 billion euro ($5.8 billion) project on the River Guadiana, begun two decades ago to revive the region prone to becoming a desert, is now in full swing and the state is planning an expansion of its irrigated areas by 40 percent.
"We have enough water to the point when I'm five years into a drought and not worried about water," said Leal da Costa, recalling that in California - the world's largest almond producer - that concern is permanent as agriculture competes for a limited stock of water with megalopolises and industries.
During a trip to the United States in June, Prime Minister Antonio Costa invited investors in California, which has a climate similar to Portugal's, to set up shop around Alqueva in a pitch that played on concerns about global warming.
He lauded the government as being very supportive to investment. Seeking to boost economic growth after a 2011 crisis, Portugal provides cheap loans and other incentives to investors willing to spend over 500,000 euros and create jobs.
Alqueva still serves just 200,000 people for drinking water in sparsely populated areas with nascent agribusiness, such as Leal da Costa's factory, to be launched by year-end and designed to handle rising almond output from all over the region.
The pressurised irrigation system with dozens of dams, seven reversible flow power stations, and 2,000 km of pipelines has this year for the first time reached the design goal of selling its water to 80 percent of the served area, said Jose Salema, head of the state firm EDIA in charge of Alqueva development.
EDIA has launched public tenders for the expansion works to begin later this year. They will widen the system's coverage by over 40 percent to 170,000 hectares by 2022 from 120,000 ha now.
Alqueva-irrigated areas now stretch almost from the Atlantic coast to the Spanish border and in that the project has achieved one of its main goals of creating a moisturised green barrier to desertification, Salema said. The phenomenon affects Portugal and a dozen southern and central European states.
Salema says Alqueva can guarantee a steady water supply for permanent crops for at least 20 years even after the expansion. Water consumption per hectare is now just half of what Alqueva had been designed for thanks to more efficient growing and watering methods such as drip irrigation, he said.
Foreign investors already work on an estimated 25,000 ha, a quarter of all Alqueva-irrigated lands in use, having poured some 250 million euros into crops and equipment, EDIA says. That much land alone is worth 500 million euros at current prices.
Olives remain the area's mainstay crop, but instead of a dozen trees per hectare, new intensive farms now grow hundreds yielding over 4,600 euros per ha, four times the operating cost.
Alqueva boosted Portugal's olive oil output to a record 147 million litres last year, official statistics show. Portugal was the world's fourth largest olive oil exporter in 2017.
EDIA has slashed water prices in the past year by about a third thanks to lower energy costs, with big discounts for new joiners, making planting more attractive. It is rolling out pioneering water-cooled solar power panels that float in reservoirs, producing cheaper energy for pumping.
Unemployment in the wider Alentejo region encompassing Alqueva fell more sharply than anywhere else in Portugal last year to below the average national level, ending at 8.4 percent.
No longer affected by summer water rationings, hotels have sprung up in scenic villages and towns, drawing tourists.
"In a couple of years, you will start to see the cities growing, the industry growing around agriculture," said Jose Manuel Leal da Costa, the almond entrepreneur's father and main investor, who has a granite business in California and a marina on the Alqueva lake renting boat-houses to tourists.
Almond plantations in the area doubled in size last year to over 5,500 ha with foreign investors dominating new plantings.
Fruit plantations have also expanded heftily to over 1,000 ha helped by investment from Spain, Germany, and Switzerland.
The Portuguese unit of Swiss-based Fairfruit Group has just brought in its first harvest of apricots and peaches. Thanks to intense sunlight and abundant water local producers beat the rest of European growers by weeks in putting their produce on the shop shelves, taking advantage of higher prices.
"This is very attractive to any foreign company. We have plantations in various European countries and we see that many types of fruit grow a lot faster here," said CEO Joao Serrano.
While other Portuguese regions also want similar irrigation projects, Alqueva is unlikely to face competition from new schemes as EU rules calling for clean, sufficient water supplies for human needs have largely halted damming for agriculture.
But no place may escape the dire impact of global warming for long. Portugal had its own deadly wildfires last year after a three-year drought and more blazes south of Alqueva this year. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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