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Project properties |
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| Title | Alqueva dam and the rise of corporate agriculture: Is there a future for family farms? |
| Group | Water Resources Management group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 36 |
| Supervisor(s) | Alex Bolding |
| Examiner(s) | |
| Contact info | Lumen room C045 |
| Begin date | 2021/06/01 |
| End date | 2022/01/01 |
| Description | Country: Alentejo, Portugal
Host institute: Centro Operative e de Tecnologia de Regadio (COTR), Beja Period: summer 2020 until when finished Problem context With a reservoir that contains 4.15 billion cubic meters of water, bigger than any other in Europe , a catchment area of approximately 10,000 km2, covering a total of 20 municipalities, and providing water for 120,000 hectares of irrigated land, the Alqueva dam project brought radical change in Alentejo, southern Portugal. The project is so massive that it has also been defined as an EU funded hydrodinosaur (Costa, 2003). Many hopes have been attached to the project in terms of rural development, employment provision, tourism and revitalising rural communities. However, what transpires 10 years after becoming fully operational is a mono cropped landscape that is used by foreign corporate agro industry focusing on the production of olives, grapes and almonds, employing seasonal, migrant labour flown in from Eastern European and Asian countries. Research Objective/Question The question is what benefits the project brought to local Portuguese farmers and labourers, besides offering an opportunity to sell out and retire as an urban pensionado in nearby Lisbon. What alternative futures exist for Portuguese family farms, the local youth and those land users who are located beyond the irrigated perimeter? Is the present process of agrarian change shifting from family farming to corporate farming the only possible outcome that will pay back the investment costs associated with this mega project? What is expected from the student (type of research) Three months of field work in a challenging (because non-English speaking) environment that requires an independent mind set and ability to move about. |
| Used skills | both quantitative & qualitative skills |
| Requirements | Portuguese or Spanish speaking |