Banca Furada Hydro-agricultural Scheme

The Banca Furada Hydro-agricultural Scheme is located in the northwestern part of the island of São Nicolau, in the municipality of Ribeira Brava São Nicolau, Cape Verde.

This scheme, with an equipped area of around 50 hectares, benefits from an irrigation network originating from the Banca Furada dam located in the hydrographic basin of Ribeira Grande (or Ribeira da Fajã).

The purpose of the dam is to capture rainwater resulting from the crossing of the two main streams in the Fajã valley, to irrigate the Fajã de Baixo area, considered the granary of São Nicolau.

In the area of influence of the Banca Furada dam, 62 rural properties are identified, with a total area of 49.6 hectares.

The project benefited from a hydraulic system originating from the Banca Furada dam and the water intake at the reservoir will be connected to the pumping station (in the foot of the dam) from which two water mains flow along a parallel path that diverge to feed two independent reservoirs.

The works of the secondary irrigation networks start in these reservoirs. The  exploitation is served by a collective network with 4,745 meters of HDPE conduits with variable diameters, between DN 75 mm and DN 250 mm.

The water will be supplied under pressure to farmers and will be previously filtered through sand filters, which will guarantee an adequate degree of cleanliness for localized irrigation.