Water Resources

The half-dry climate is characterized by having only one period of rain per year. These rains, however, do not take care of the necessities of farming; not only because of the amounts but because they don’t coincide with the time when the diverse cultures need water. These rains infiltrate the ground and accumulate water sources in the subsoil. The lack of water resources, therefore, is not characterized by the inexistence of water,  just the inability to access it when needed. in the subsoil, but by the conditions
of the small agriculturist to extract and to distribute efficiently this water for his plantation. 

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Lack of Basic Assistance

In the Areas of Health and Education for the poor their basic education is from third to eighth grade.  Children who have not yet reached the age of basic education (seven years of age) are harmed because in this region, the existing public schools for child education do not meet the needs of the population. Children normally stay at home, helping parents with daily tasks instead of attending school. Consequently when they reach seven years of age, they go directly to public schools, beginning first grade with undetected educational deficiencies and not having the advantage of prior education such as pre-school, pre-kindergarten, and kindergarten. Many of these children go to third grade without being able to read and write. 

Poverty

One in four people in the region’s rural areas live in poverty, in many municipalities poverty rates are above 60 per cent, with some reaching as much as 90 per cent.  In Brazil, hunger does not exist due to lack of food. What Brazilians need is income to buy it regularly, in adequate amounts and quality.  As the income is poorly distributed throughout the country, major populations in these areas do not have access to the minimal amount of food necessary to guarantee their own survival well enough, multi-generational survival.

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Lack of Food Security

These regions have the highest levels of food and nutrition insecurity of all Brazil--More than 55% of the millions of citizens live with nutrition insecurity. 

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Lack of Modern Technology and Innovation

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The main requirements of  small-holder farmers is for technical innovations and proven agricultural practices that can address the specific farmers needs with appropriate tools-- specific to the regions harsh environment.  Aerial images from satellites, micro climate weather forecasts,  plant health and soil sensors and access to markets for their products can make it easier to manage crop growth in real time. As the end users of technology and innovation, they should be actively involved in all stages of this process but currently are not.  Huge disparity exists between Public Policy and that in Practice. The use of digital technology has great potential to innovate all parts of the food system in a very good way.

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At the same time, the Community level understanding of innovation is not just from a sole focus on technologies, it must include socio, economic, cultural (fear of change and a false perception because of limited education) and institutional changes - with the understanding that many technical aspects of innovation are critically dependent on parallel social and entrepreneurial programs.  This recognition has led to our  ‘innovation systems’ approaches, which holistically involve a range of actors with different knowledge and skills.  

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Suicide

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Areas within our project´s demographics have the highest number of indigenous, youth, or family leader suicides in the entirety of the country.  Poverty, Feelings of Hopelessness, Teenage Pregnancy, Lack of Education and easy access to Professional Mental Health Services are major contributors.

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Proven Solutions are Available to Address and Overcome these Problems

The Northeast is viable. Its characteristics when associated with a good infrastructure, community specific social programmes, innovation and technology, can give this region the conditions to become self sustainable.   If correct policy were adopted by the government, the severe climate would not be the problem but part of the solution. If the existing projects were unified and all efforts were headed in the same direction, the Northeast would not only became more viable, it would be a place of great opportunities.

Although the climatic conditions of the half-dry regions have always been considered an obstacle to development and a root cause of poverty, the climatic conditions can and must now be faced as a great comparative advantage, as essential progress and a developmental factor of the region. 

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This Consortium is up to creating,  managing and implementing these changes. 

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