Less than 1% of money for preventive works in a big federal investment plan (called the PAC) found its way to flood-prone Rio de Janeiro state last year.
If a mere fraction of the public money spent on big irrigation projects were spent on small-scale works in the semi-arido, he argues, subsistence farmers could survive the drought with their animals and livelihoods intact and with no need to beg for aid from the local political bosses.