IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i3p1081-d1579265.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Harvesting Underdevelopment: Exploring the Water–Food Nexus in Brazilian Municipalities

Author

Listed:
  • Mateus Henrique Amaral

    (Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 01246-904, Brazil)

  • Lira Luz Benites Lazaro

    (Institute of Energy and Environment, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-900, Brazil)

  • Rosie Day

    (School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK)

  • Leandro Luiz Giatti

    (Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 01246-904, Brazil
    Leônidas and Maria Deane Institute, Fiocruz Amazônia, Manaus 69057-070, Brazil)

Abstract

Efforts to promote human development through agriculture highlight issues that require balanced approaches, considering socio-environmental factors, including equitable water allocation in regions with significant inequalities. This study aims to assess human development disparities across Brazilian regions, particularly in municipalities with high water consumption for irrigation in agriculture and livestock watering. Using public data from 2007 and 2016, a total of 300 municipalities were selected each year for analysis based on water use types. The study compared groups using the Firjan Index of Municipal Development (FIMD) as a measure of human development, employing the Kruskal–Wallis test with a 95% confidence level. We found statistically significant differences in FIMD distribution across all of the groups studied. We also verified that a set of municipalities in the Southeast did not experience significant advancements in development between 2007 and 2016, despite having high water allocations for livestock watering. Additionally, intense water use for irrigation was insufficient to elevate less advantaged regions, such as the Northeast, where half of the municipalities were classified with moderately low values in both years. The challenges in this water–food nexus study highlight the need for more integrated policies to ensure greater justice in human development and in the distribution of natural resource exploitation for agribusiness income.

Suggested Citation

  • Mateus Henrique Amaral & Lira Luz Benites Lazaro & Rosie Day & Leandro Luiz Giatti, 2025. "Harvesting Underdevelopment: Exploring the Water–Food Nexus in Brazilian Municipalities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-19, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:3:p:1081-:d:1579265
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/3/1081/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/3/1081/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Santos, Cárliton Vieira dos & Oliveira, Aryeverton Fortes de & Filho, Joaquim Bento de Souza Ferreira, 2022. "Potential impacts of climate change on agriculture and the economy in different regions of Brazil," Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural (RESR), Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural, vol. 60(01), January.
    2. Felema, João & Raiher, Augusta Pelinski & Ferreira, Carlos Roberto, 2013. "Agropecuária Brasileira: desempenho regional e determinantes de produtividade," Brazilian Journal of Rural Economy and Sociology (Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural-RESR), Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural, vol. 51(3), pages 1-20, September.
    3. Rathmann, Régis & Hoff, Debora Nayar & Santos, Omar Inácio Benedetti & Domingos, Antônio, 2008. "Diversificação produtiva e as possibilidades de desenvolvimento: um estudo da fruticultura na região da Campanha no RS," Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural (RESR), Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural, vol. 46(2), January.
    4. Felema, João & Raiher, Augusta Pelinski & Ferreira, Carlos Roberto, 2013. "Agropecuária Brasileira: desempenho regional e determinantes de produtividade," Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural (RESR), Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural, vol. 51(3), January.
    5. Yuri Botelho Salmona & Eraldo Aparecido Trondoli Matricardi & David Lewis Skole & João Flávio Andrade Silva & Osmar de Araújo Coelho Filho & Marcos Antonio Pedlowski & James Matos Sampaio & Leidi Caho, 2023. "A Worrying Future for River Flows in the Brazilian Cerrado Provoked by Land Use and Climate Changes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-24, February.
    6. Rathmann, Regis & Hoff, Debora Nayar & Santos, Omar Inacio Benedetti & Padula, Antonio Domingos, 2008. "Diversificação produtiva e as possibilidades de desenvolvimento: um estudo da fruticultura na região da Campanha no RS," Brazilian Journal of Rural Economy and Sociology (Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural-RESR), Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural, vol. 46(2), pages 1-30, June.
    7. Mamudu Abunga Akudugu & Katherine Kaunza-Nu-Dem Millar & Margaret Atosina Akuriba, 2021. "The Livelihoods Impacts of Irrigation in Western Africa: The Ghana Experience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-13, May.
    8. Mercure, J.-F. & Paim, M.A. & Bocquillon, P. & Lindner, S. & Salas, P. & Martinelli, P. & Berchin, I.I. & de Andrade Guerra, J.B.S.O & Derani, C. & de Albuquerque Junior, C.L. & Ribeiro, J.M.P. & Knob, 2019. "System complexity and policy integration challenges: The Brazilian Energy- Water-Food Nexus," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 230-243.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sobratee-Fajurally, N. & Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe, 2022. "Inclusive sustainable landscape management in West and Central Africa: enabling co-designing contexts for systemic sensibility," IWMI Books, Reports H051652, International Water Management Institute.
    2. Machado, R.L. & Abreu, M.R., 2024. "Multi-objective optimization of the first and second-generation ethanol supply chain in Brazil using the water-energy-food-land nexus approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    3. Zuo, Qiting & Wu, Qingsong & Yu, Lei & Li, Yongping & Fan, Yurui, 2021. "Optimization of uncertain agricultural management considering the framework of water, energy and food," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    4. Zhai, Mengyu & Huang, Guohe & Liu, Lirong & Zheng, Boyue & Guan, Yuru, 2020. "Inter-regional carbon flows embodied in electricity transmission: network simulation for energy-carbon nexus," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    5. Zeyang Bian & Dan Liu, 2021. "A Comprehensive Review on Types, Methods and Different Regions Related to Water–Energy–Food Nexus," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-24, August.
    6. Margaret Atosina Akuriba & Rein Haagsma & Nico Heerink, 2022. "Do Governance Perceptions Affect Cooperativeness? Evidence from Small-Scale Irrigation Schemes in Northern Ghana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-21, August.
    7. Ali, Sawsan M. & Acquaye, Adolf, 2024. "An examination of Water-Energy-Food nexus: From theory to application," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    8. Machado, Bruno de Souza & Neves, Mateus de Carvalho Reis & Braga, Marcelo José & Costa, Davi Rogério de Moura, 2024. "Access and impact of Pronaf in Brazil: evidence on typologies and regional concentration," Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural (RESR), Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural, vol. 62(3), January.
    9. Caiado Couto, Lilia & Campos, Luiza C. & da Fonseca-Zang, Warde & Zang, Joachim & Bleischwitz, Raimund, 2021. "Water, waste, energy and food nexus in Brazil: Identifying a resource interlinkage research agenda through a systematic review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    10. Barbosa, Victor Alves & Nabout, João Carlos & Cunha, Hélida Ferreira da, 2023. "Spatial and temporal deforestation in the Brazilian Savanna: The discrepancy between observed and licensed deforestation in the state of Goiás," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    11. Víctor Correa-Porcel & Laura Piedra-Muñoz & Emilio Galdeano-Gómez, 2021. "Water–Energy–Food Nexus in the Agri-Food Sector: Research Trends and Innovating Practices," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-31, December.
    12. Shuyuan Liu & Lichuan Wang & Jin Lin & Huan Wang & Xuegang Li & Tianqi Ao, 2023. "Evaluation of Water-Energy-Food-Ecology System Development in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region from a Symbiotic Perspective and Analysis of Influencing Factors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-19, March.
    13. Poblete, Israel Bernardo S. & Araujo, Ofélia de Queiroz F. & de Medeiros, José Luiz, 2020. "Dynamic analysis of sustainable biogas-combined-cycle plant: Time-varying demand and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    14. João Marcelo Pereira Ribeiro & Issa Ibrahim Berchin & Samara da Silva Neiva & Thiago Soares & Celso Lopes de Albuquerque Junior & André Borchardt Deggau & Wellyngton Silva de Amorim & Samuel Borges Ba, 2021. "Food stability model: A framework to support decision‐making in a context of climate change," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 13-24, January.
    15. Bentley, Chance & Anandhi, Aavudai, 2020. "Representing driver-response complexity in ecosystems using an improved conceptual model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 437(C).
    16. Juliet Angom & P. K. Viswanathan, 2023. "Irrigation Technology Interventions as Potential Options to Improve Water Security in India and Africa: A Comparative Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-17, November.
    17. Thyena Karen Magalhães Dias & Edward Martins Costa & Filipe Augusto Xavier Lima & Helson Gomes de Souza, 2021. "Regional Heterogeneity of the Family Farming in Brazil: an Analysis Using a Spatial Stochastic Frontier," Journal of Agricultural Studies, Macrothink Institute, vol. 9(3), pages 179-214, September.
    18. Correa-Cano, M.E. & Salmoral, G. & Rey, D. & Knox, J.W. & Graves, A. & Melo, O. & Foster, W. & Naranjo, L. & Zegarra, E. & Johnson, C. & Viteri-Salazar, O. & Yan, X., 2022. "A novel modelling toolkit for unpacking the Water-Energy-Food-Environment (WEFE) nexus of agricultural development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    19. Hoolohan, Claire & McLachlan, Carly & Larkin, Alice, 2019. "‘Aha’ moments in the water-energy-food nexus: A new morphological scenario method to accelerate sustainable transformation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    20. Oliveira, Elis Regina de & Couto, Victor Rezende Moreira, 2018. "Productive and Economic Viability of Raising Beef Cattle in the Savanna of the Brazilian State of Goiás," Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural (RESR), Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural, vol. 56(3), January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:3:p:1081-:d:1579265. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.