Drought adaptation and development: small-scale irrigated agriculture in northeast Brazil

The study finds that in northeast Brazil, specifically among irrigated farmers in Pernambuco during the 2011–2013 drought, adaptation to water scarcity occurred as an unintended consequence of non-climate-focused developments. Key drivers included income diversification through the clothing industry, poverty alleviation programmes under the Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff administrations, and the adoption of efficient irrigation technology originally intended to reduce labour and erosion.

• Economic and social developments not specifically designed for climate adaptation have inadvertently reduced drought vulnerability in northeast Brazil.
• Income diversification, specifically employment in clothing production, provides farmers with a stable secondary income source to mitigate environmental uncertainty.
• Poverty alleviation programmes implemented by the administrations of Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff have decreased climate vulnerability as a spillover effect.
• The adoption of efficient irrigation technology, driven by goals to reduce labour and erosion, has resulted in water savings and lower drought vulnerability.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (2025). Drought adaptation and development: small-scale irrigated agriculture in northeast Brazil. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/drought-adaptation-and-development-small-scale-irrigated-agriculture-in-northeast-brazil/

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Drought adaptation and development: small-scale irrigated agriculture in northeast Brazil. 2025. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/drought-adaptation-and-development-small-scale-irrigated-agriculture-in-northeast-brazil/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=Drought adaptation and development: small-scale irrigated agriculture in northeast Brazil |date=13 January 2025 |url=https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/drought-adaptation-and-development-small-scale-irrigated-agriculture-in-northeast-brazil/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearch2025drought, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{Drought adaptation and development: small-scale irrigated agriculture in northeast Brazil}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/drought-adaptation-and-development-small-scale-irrigated-agriculture-in-northeast-brazil/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }