Estratégias de convivência com o Semiárido: o uso das tecnologias sociais de captação e armazenamento de água no Assentamento Vida Nova /Aragão, em Miraíma/CE

Abstract

Located in the Brazilian Semiarid Region, the State of Ceará is characterized by low rainfall, distinct aridity index and constant droughts. Such adversities interfere in agricultural activity in the region and require specific measures for water collection and storage, demanding from governments, public policies for access to quality water for human consumption and production. Some of these actions - the “One Million Cisterns Program (P1MC)” and the “One Land and Two Waters Program (P1+2)”, developed by the Brazilian Semi-Arid Articulation (ASA) in partnership with the Ministry of Social Development (MDS), have as purpose the implementation of various social technologies to promote access to water resources in a socially sustainable way, through the autonomous collection and storage of water in specific locations, and food sovereignty and income generation through improvement in the quantity and quality of production. Thus, this study aims to make a brief characterization of the use of cisterns implanted in the Vida Nova/Aragão settlement, located in Miraíma/CE. For the evaluation, it was used, first, the methodology of "Landscape Reading", carried out during field classes and individual and collective experiences during the activities of the Tutorial Education Program (PET) Agrarian - Knowledge Connections, inserted in the Agricultural Residency Program (PRA) of the Federal University of Ceará (UFC). Subsequently, an “Accessibility or Convenience Sampling” was used, where it was possible to gather 10% of the families residing in the settlement between settled and aggregated through a conversation wheel held remotely on the online platform “Google Meet”. On the occasion, a semi-structured interview was carried out with those present, where it can be observed that, with the arrival of technologies for coexistence with the semiarid region, the farmers and family farmers in the aforementioned settlement obtained greater availability and better use of the water resource and were able to increase the time available for production - which was previously spent during the water search process in periods of scarcity -, an act that directly impacted on greater agricultural production based on sustainable rural development, thus effecting an advance in the quality of life and maintenance of men and women in the countryside.