Rice farmers from Rio Grande do Sul are working to help speed up the drainage of water from cities in the Porto Alegre Metropolitan region. In an action carried out by the Federation of Rice Growers Associations of Rio Grande do Sul (Federarroz) in partnership with companies and institutions, the objective is to use experience in the area of irrigation through pumps, inputs and qualified personnel.
The companies WR, InfoSafras, Gebras, Agropecuária Canoa Mirim, Exponent, Numerik, CCM, Instituto Caldeira and Idealiza, together with other volunteers, participate in the initiative. The objective is to use the pumps in the issue of water drainage, seeking to benefit more than 500 thousand homeless people and reduce the draining time of flooded cities, through a voluntary mobilization of support for local authorities.
Federarroz is mobilizing rice growers, companies and technicians to participate voluntarily and join together in this aid effort. The objective of this action is to increase the pumping capacity out of your dikes so that drainage time is significantly reduced. The entity believes that the rice sector with its floating pumping systems can and should assist in this humanitarian action. “The initiative to assist with drainage is essential so that we can, in a short space of time, remove this water and people can return to their homes and their businesses”, highlights the president of Federarroz, Alexandre Velho.
The measure has already been used in Pelotas in a project that mobilized voluntary resources, with technical personnel, pumps, equipment and materials, increasing the number of dikes, closing vulnerable points and installing pumps with the potential to prevent flooding of an area protected by a dike, in complement to the Sanep structure. Drainage time in the city was reduced by 60% according to an estimate based on the calculation of drainage capacity added to the system. In Porto Alegre, rice farmers from Mostardas (RS) are already helping with the flow in Bairro Anchieta, where the Salgado Filho Airport region is located.
If producers and companies agree to make their equipment or other inputs or services available for analysis of the feasibility of use by the technicians involved, they can contact Federarroz via WhatsApp (51) 98065.4000 or email [email protected] .