SCHOLARLY ARTICLE

Marjorie Mendes Guarenghi, Marcelo Pereira da Cunha, Márcia Maria Guedes Alcoforado de Moraes and Alexandre Hugo Cezar Barros | Revista Delos

Adequate territorial management of irrigation water is essential to ensure water security, especially in semi-arid areas. This paper presents a spatial diagnostic of the most suitable areas for crop cultivation (individual or intercropped), under rainfed and irrigated conditions, considering specific factors to promote sustainable agricultural production in the Agreste of Pernambuco (Brazil).

The procedure combines geospatial information about edaphoclimatic requirements and legal and biophysical restrictions on land use. If there is water availability for irrigation, the areas eligible for the cultivation of cowpea and maize can increase by up to 50% and 120%, respectively, compared to the area available for rainfed planting of these crops in the study region.

In general, the conditions of annual precipitation are not suitable for the rainfed production of sugarcane and banana in regular years. The method, widely applicable to other regions, allows the assessment of the suitability of each site for the cultivation of more than one crop and can support the definition and evaluation of public water policies for sustainable economic development.

Its results can convert the perceptions of those involved into technical and reasoned analyses in the face of critical issues related to achieving water sustainability and sustainable economic development.

Full article: https://ojs.revistadelos.com/ojs/index.php/delos/article/view/751