O projeto de Irrigação Várzeas de Sousa - PB(PIVAS): transformando o mesmo ou mudando o novo?

Abstract

Base on the irrigation project "Irrigacao de Varzeas de Sousa - PB (PIVAS)", created in 1950 and made official by the end of 1990, carried out to boost and to give a new impetus intending to increase the fruiticulture production in its area of influence and its consequent export, this work aims to analyze how and in which extent the "PIVAS" has been contributed to the social and economic development in the backwoods of Paraiba, considering the perspective of a possible coexistence with the semiarid region, and, especially, the requirement of development and implementation of public polices which ensure local sustainability. It also intends to realize whether the changes with the implementation of the project made possible or not an effective change with respect to environmental, social and economic development of the region, and whether it redefined the view on the semiarid as an uneconomical space. In this sense, social actions in community, the positive interference of the PIVAS in this process and, finally, the power relationship which influences the participation of fanners and peasants in the institution of the "PIVAS" have been considered in the research.