Efeitos da pluviometria sobre a produção de lavouras de sequeiro em áreas fora do processo de desertificação no semiárido cearense: Caso do Maciço de Baturité – Pacoti e Baturité

Abstract

The semiarid is a region known for long periods of drought and rainfall instability. In Brazil, the northeast region has the most states inserted within this type of ecosystem, along with the north of Minas Gerais. Much of the semiarid is subject to the phenomenon of desertification, in which the degradation of natural resources and the environment is due to the synergy that exists between the aggressive climate and the actions of human beings through various practices, like: predatory agriculture, burning and the removal of vegetation to be used as a source of energy both in households and in industrial activities of different sizes. The Baturité Massif is a mountainous region in the Ceará semiarid region, not affected by the phenomenon of desertification; the region has high rainfall throughout the year and averages exceed that of the state. In regions of low average rainfall, rainfed agriculture is an alternative for the population living in this region, where the challenges are great for the success of harvests due to rainfall instability. The research had as purpose to classify the climate of the municipalities of Baturité and Pacoti according to rainfall intensity in periods of drought, normal rainfall and rainy. Also it studied the production of food crops, beans, cassava and corn and observe the behavior within each of these regimes. The survey uses data from FUNCEME and the IBGE Municipal Agricultural Research from 1974 to 2017. The variables associated with food crops are: harvested area, productivity and price. The behaviors of these variables in each culture within each of the climate types evaluated in the research are studied. The results showed that, in both municipalities, there were practically no drought years in the analyzed period. The main conclusion of the work is that instabilities in the variables associated with production happen with greater intensities in rainy periods.