COUNTRY
PROFILE - PORTUGAL
A. Physiology and
its People
Portugal is one of
the oldest countries in Europe and the world, founded in 1143 whose identity
is well established for centuries. The area of Portugal is 92075 km2,
including the mainland, Continental Portugal, with an area of 88944 km2 (including the area of estuaries permanently covered by water), and two
insular regions, Madeira, 79 km2 and Azores, 2337
km2. The total population of both the areas is
2488100 inhabitants, or 26.6% of the population of Continental Portugal.
The current borders of Continental Portugal were established by the Alcañices
Treaty, between the Kingdoms of Portugal and Castilla, in 1297. The Portuguese
possession of the insular territories is recognized since the 15th century.
The Portuguese mainland
is located between the latitudes of 37ºN and 42ºN in the Western
part of Europe, subject to the influence of the Atlantic Ocean which washes
the Western and Southern coasts and it is also affected by the Mediterranean
in the Southern region of the country.
Portugal is a cultural
and political unit, having a common religion and language in all the territory,
Portuguese. The political administration lies in a Central Government
and two Regional Governments, one for each insular territory. The capital
is Lisbon.
Portugal’s resident population was estimated (31st December 1997)
at 9 957270, 95% of whom live on the mainland. The mainland population
was scattered over the country’s 88,944 km2 somewhat unevenly: overall population density was 106.5 inhabitants/km2 and the figures for each of the 7 Agricultural Regions varied between
a minimum of 19.8 inhab./km2 in the South to 337.6
inhab./km2 in the North. The area with the highest
density of population is the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, located in the
North Bank of Tejo Estuary, which comprises the municipalities of Amadora,
Cascais, Lisboa, Loures, Oeiras, Sintra and Vila Franca de Xira, with
an area of 1057 km2, the total population of 1847700,
and a population density of 1748. The Setúbal Península
Area, adjacent to Lisbon is located on the South Bank of Tejo Estuary,
having an area of 1521 km2, a population of 640400,
and the population density of 421.
There has been some
improvement in the level of education of agricultural producers with a
greater percentage of producers today having formal education (ranging
from basic to higher education), rising from 54% in 1989 to 60% in 1995.
The majority of agricultural
producers live mainly on income derived from activities outside the farm
(66%), which has not been affected by the reduction in the number of agricultural
production units.
B. Climate
Portugal has two climatic
regions: the region influenced by the Atlantic sea, and the region having
a typical Continental clime. The Massif regions also have an important
meaning in the Portuguese climatic context (DEVEAU et al., 1985). The
mean annual temperature varies between 7ºC in the hills of the interior
central region to 18ºC on the South coast. The mean monthly temperature
on the Portuguese mainland records a maximum high in July and August (21.8ºC)
and a minimum low in January (8.8ºC). The highest mean monthly values
for maximum air temperature are observed in the Northern and Central interior
regions and in the “Alentejo” region during the months of July
and August when temperatures exceed 30º C. The lowest mean monthly
values for minimum air temperature occur in the hills of Central interior
region in the months of December, January and February and register approximately
-1ºC.
The rainfall on the
Portuguese mainland varies greatly in space and in time. The lowest mean
annual rainfall (<600mm) occurs in the South-east (interior “Alentejo”)
and in a small area of the North-east (part of “Trás-os-Montes”).
Mean annual rainfall values greater than 1500 mm occur on the coast in
the North of the country and in the hills of interior regions of the North
and Centre.
The mean annual rainfall is about 920 mm in Continental Portugal having
a non-uniform spatial distribution more concentrated on the Minho hydrographic
region where the corresponding value practically duplicates the average
for the Continental Portugal whereas values for Guadiana, Sado/Mira and
Algarve hydrographic regions are significantly lower (about 63% to 64%
of the average for Continental Portugal as a whole). Average rainfall
distribution in the year is markedly non-uniform: about 75% to 80% of
the mean annual rainfall which concentrate in the six wet months, from
October to March.
C. Agriculture
The Utilized Agricultural
Area (UAA) in Continental Portugal decreased by 2% between 1989 and 1995,
mainly due to a reduction in arable land.
There has been a significant increase in the area devoted to fodder cultivation
and temporary grassland (+ 4.6%). The increase verified in the area of
permanent pasture during this period (+25.2%) is of relative importance
considering that the relevant Community definition allows areas of questionable
suitability for agricultural use to be included in this group as poor
quality pasture. Amongst other possible reasons, the reduction in area
of various types of crops is the result of a decrease in the number of
farms (-25.2%) which, in turn, may be mainly due to :
- farms taken over
by others;
- land left abandoned;
- suspension of an
activity with the result that a farm holding no longer meets the minimum
requirements to be considered as such.
Over the last decades,
the development of public irrigation projects in Portugal has been closely
and predominantly associated with six crops or groups of crops: rice,
tomatoes, corn, pasture, vegetable and fruit and, more recently, sunflower.
In fact, despite the motivations and production objectives associated
with the majority of the areas irrigated are based on the development
of specific activities (pasture, tobacco, beetroot, tropical fruit, etc.).
It is seen that, in practice, the crops which showed greatest growth in
each area were those which, over the time, produced the best economic
results for the farmers. In 1989/90 there were 625829 hectares of irrigated
UAA, wherein 115003 hectares corresponded to individual irrigation projects
while 157 869 hectares were assorted.
D. Water Resources
The main control of
water resource management is assigned to the Ministry of Environment (MA),
which comprises central and regional departments. The agricultural control
is assigned to the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries,
which comprises central and regional departments.
The main functions
of other different bodies of the public administration are divided in
two different components, viz. normative actions, planning, management,
licensing of activities, and supervision, control and inspection. The
rainfall, stream
flow and water quality networks are operated by the Institute of Water.
Hydrographic Regions
Portugal and Spain
share five international river basins of rivers Minho, Lima, Douro, Tejo
and Guadiana.
For assessing the water resources, a territory division was adopted through
a compromise between the topographic divides demarking the main river
basins and the administrative boundaries of the municipalities. Hydrographic
regions were thus established that comprised the main river basins of
Continental Portugal.
Surface flow
Given the small number
of gauging stations or the lack of homogeneity in several of the available
series of records, owing to changes in the natural flow regime produced
by human factors, the surface flow contributions are derived from relations
between annual values of surface flow and the amount of rainfall in the
gauged river basins.
The mean annual flow
for Continental Portugal is 407 mm, or about 44% of the value of mean
annual rainfall. The differences in flow characteristics clearly show
the non-uniform nature of the spatial flow distribution. The variability
of the flow annual distribution is significant.
Groundwater
The geology of a given
region is the physical factor that governs the infiltration and circulation
of underground waters. From the water resources viewpoint, and in a sustainable
development framework, it is not possible to extract water from an aquifer
more than the water recharged into the aquifer to ensure that the aquifer
does not get exhausted.
Nevertheless, in extreme
situations like drought, abstraction may exceed recharge of an aquifer
provided that in an average rainfall or wet years, the aquifer is fully
recharged.
Overall groundwater
availability is estimated at 5.94 million m3 corresponding with a uniform
equivalent depth of 67mm. This value works out to about 60% of the mean
recharge of the aquifers. The spatial distribution of the groundwater
availability is markedly non-uniform in relative terms, Estremadura and
Vouga are the richest regions, comprising a significant part of the western
Meso-Cenozoic Border, followed by that of Tejo that covers part of the
aquifers of the Tejo and Sado Cenoantropozoic Basin. The Guadiana hydrographic
region is the poorest in terms of groundwater availability – only
29 mm.
Irrigation and
Water Use
All hydrographic regions
have surplus water resources during average conditions, but low regulation
due to lack of reservoir sites can lead to localised problems of maintaining
water supplies during dry conditions, particularly in the Guadiana, Sado/Mira
and Algarve regions. The Alqueva, Odeleite - Beliche and Odelouca - Funcho
projects thus highlight these water resource problems in southern Portugal.
There are no records
of evapo-transpiration to identify the distribution of this variable.
Thus, the evapo-transpiration is calculated by methods that relate to
hydro-meteorological variables recorded in meteorological stations. The
available calculation methods make it possible to calculate potential
or reference evapo-transpiration. The reference evapo-transpiration was
calculated by the Penman method. The actual evapo—transpiration is
calculated on basis of the reference evapo-transpiration and rainfall,
by the water balance method.
The total water demand
is estimated at 10 849 hm3/year. The distribution
by water use category is shown in Table 1. (These values are based on
estimates supplied by INAG in March 1996).
Table
1. Present Water Use in Portugal
Category |
Water
Use hm3 |
% |
| Domestic
and Public Supply |
1017 |
9 |
| Industry |
779 |
7 |
| Irrigated
Agriculture |
8570 |
79 |
| Energy |
483 |
5 |
| Total |
10849 |
100 |
The useable resources
are estimated to be approximately 12 910 hm3, including
return flows. Of these, approximately 4270 hm3 are from Spain. (These are preliminary estimates provided by INAG). The
agricultural sector utilises the largest amount of water, accounting for
approximately 79% of the water demand. The largest agricultural demands
occur in the Tejo, Douro, Mondego and Sado regions. The demand for this
water is concentrated in the driest period of the year. Regulated water
resources are provided by more than hundred large dams. Agriculture is
the main user sector of water resources.
Domestic and public water supply is below the European average in terms
of per capita demand and the proportion of the population served by piped
water supplies.
The Continental Portugal
features are dominantly Mediterranean with rainy winters followed by hot
and dry summers in which the majority of crops are highly conditioned
by the surplus water in the winter and its insufficiency during the dry
period. The inhabitants of the country are most affected by this situation
although several irrigation and drainage projects have been carried out,
which allowed them the benefit in a more rational way, from the available
natural resources. This situation was more evident in the North of the
country not only because of the scantiness of arable soils prompting farmers
to use more land which has not only been possible with the introduction
of irrigation, but also because of the greater demographic density and
the availability of a great number of waterways. Thus, private and traditional
irrigation projects emerged and spread all over the country, first along
the waterways in order to make the most from alluvial soils, and afterwards,
a little all over the place including the exploration of groundwater.
Up to the year 1995,
88 264 hectares of irrigation projects were created by public initiative
amounting an increase of 14621 hectares between 1995 and 1999. In relation
to the drainage projects, 1996 saw the construction of 67902 hectares
of drainage works. However, some works were expected to complete by 1999
to benefit 6200 hectares in the Central region (river Tejo) and 12000
hectares in the Northern region (river Vouga).
A total irrigated
area in Portugal was 625829 (1998) of which 115003 was covered by collective
farming, 352759 by individuals and 157869 ha was composed by other categories.
Portugal and ICID
Portugal joined the
ICID in the year 1954 and has ever since actively participated in the
activities of ICID. Mr. J.F.Rebelo Pinto (1962-65) and Dr. L.S. Pereira
(1987-90) were past Vice Presidents of ICID. The Portuguese National Committee
is actively represented in two workbodies of ICID.
Portuguese National
Committee hosted 2nd European Regional Conference in 1964. | 
