In the drought polygon of Northern Brazil, even in non drought years, the shortage of rainfall from June to December causes frequent crop failures and in general tends to cause a shortage of feed for cattle, hogs, poultry and other animals. As a result of the dam and reservoir building program of the government of Brazil over the past 60 years, there now exists a large number of bodies of freshwater that, even in drought years, are capable of producing high-quality animal protein in the form of fish. The development of these fishing resources is consistent with the priority needs of the region with the objectives of USAID to alleviate hunger and increase the production of basic foods.