Use and availability of water in the semi-arid region of Brazil

Abstract

Water is a limiting factor in agricultural production of farm workers, and the consumption of agricultural products is linked to a chain of impacts on water resources. Thus, the objective of this paper was to evaluate the agricultural water consumption with the water footprint concept, estimating the green and blue water footprints in a small basin of Brazil’s semi-arid region, based on five scenarios of precipitation, to verify the use and availability of water as a key element in sustainable family farming. After the calculation of water footprint of corn and bean under dryland conditions, it was noticed that the basin’s families are dependent on green water for subsistence production and income generation, since the relationship of green and blue water volume per kilogram (m³/kg) and generated income (m³/R$) varied according to the agricultural production in the different scenarios. Therefore, these pieces of information help users get an idea of the volume of water needed for the development of their activities, thus enabling them to compare water demand of agricultural activities, to make an efficient choice of their activities, as well as to achieve better water availability.