THE SERTÃO WILL TURN INTO SEA: POSSIBILITIES PROVIDED BY IRRIGATION PROJECTS IN THE SERGIPE SEMI-ARID

Abstract

Water is very vital to all living beings, whether on a small or large scale, all species need and use it. In places where there is a shortage of water, the population, animals and the economy are compromised. Since the territorial formation of Sergipe, the coast was the first place of interest for the colonizers, and the hinterland was occupied much later with the interiorization. The low rainfall made this climatic zone a hostile place, in which the economic base was only focused on cattle production. However, the evolution of the forms of space appropriation, led man to develop forms of irrigation, such as the one that occurs in the Alto Sertão Sergipano. This practice conditioned the idea that “the sertão will turn into sea”, popularized in the song Sobradinho (1999) by Trio Nordestino, because what was utopia becomes reality. Therefore, the present work analyzes the agricultural expansion in the Alto Sertão Sergipano, in face of the existing soil and climate conditions, considering its historical landmarks and socioeconomic potential. To develop this work, an empirical analysis was considered with a quali-quantitative and critical bias of the facts, based on literature worked in subjects such as Geography of Sergipe and Special Topics in Geography Teaching, with a focus on hydrogeography. These constraints helped to visualize the region as a real potential in agricultural production, through irrigation processes by water coming from the São Francisco River or tributaries