Efeito da seca sobre a produção, a renda e o emprego agrícola na microrregião geográfica de Brejo Santo e no estado do Ceará.

Abstract

In spite of the vast literature on the semi-arid region of Northeast of Brazil, few investigations have been done to study the impact of drought on production, income and agricultural employment. Due to this reason, this paper intends to evaluate the effects of drought, for year of 2001, in Geographical region of Brejo Santo and in the State of Ceará as a whole, on production, employment and income, and to compare the effect of the droughts of 1998 and of 2001 in relation to a normal year of 2000. The data originated from the following publications are used: Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics – IBGE; Annual Statistics of Ceará; Institute of Planning of the State of Ceará – IPLANCE and also information was obtained from the State Technical and Rural Extension Service Agency – EMATERCE and others. The main results show a fall in agricultural production in all the analyzed crops, and consequentely a decrease in agricultural income and employment. Considering a sustainable development in the area, the employment and income generation are important. Maintaining employment and income options for the rural workers in the post drought period, and training farmers to use soil and water adequately, and agricultural practices should be less aggressive to natural resources.