Brazil adopts drought‑resilient agriculture solutions amid severe 2024 dry spell

In 2024 Brazil experienced one of the driest periods of the last four decades, driven by a strong El Niño event. The National Center for Monitoring and Alerts reported the extreme dryness, and a Climate Policy Initiative study estimated total agricultural losses of about R$ 14.7 billion, with roughly R$ 8 billion tied to cattle ranching and pasture degradation.

Researchers announced a biodegradable hydrogel made from shrimp‑shell chitosan and sea‑weed alginate that can absorb up to 60 times its own weight in water. Applied to soil, the gel acts as a molecular sponge, storing rain or irrigation water and releasing it gradually to plant roots, offering a low‑cost, circular‑economy alternative to synthetic polymers.

Faced with the same drought, livestock producers are accelerating the adoption of confined‑feeding systems and improved farm infrastructure. Confinement allows precise nutrition, reduces reliance on rain‑fed pastures, and improves animal weight gain and predictability of production, helping the sector mitigate the severe water shortage.