2020). This result contrasts sharply with the 5.8 million operations in the region in the same period (Table 2), showing that the program has many challenges ahead, beyond expanding its scale of assistance.

Therefore, even given the prior considerations, family farmers in the North-
east evidently had their livestock activities encouraged through PRONAF during
the prolonged drought. However, farming received less stimulus from rural credit
in funding or investment. In any case, many producers could compensate for part
of their losses and continue to their plantations, given the support of another
critical public policy in the regional context (the CIP), analyzed below.

Evolution and scope of the applications of
the Crop-Insurance Program (2010–2019)

The Crop-Insurance Fund and Benefit, henceforth referred to as the CIP, was cre-
ated via Law N°. 10.420 of April 10, 2002, to guarantee “minimum conditions of
survival to family farmers of municipalities systematically subject to loss of harvest
given the phenomenon of drought or excess water [...] in the area of action of the
Superintendence of Development of the Northeast - SUDENE, defined by Com-
plementary Law N°. 125, January 3, 2007” (BRASIL, 2002, p. 1).

The legal framework of the program covers mainly the poorest and most vulnerable part of family farmers, with income of up to R$ 1.5 monthly minimum wage and areas of up to four fiscal modules where between 0.6 and 10 ha of beans, maize, rice, cassava, cotton or other prioritized agricultural activities are planted.

Therefore, the CIP is a novelty in policies supporting rural production in the Brazilian semi-arid Northeast because the focus of government intervention for the region during extreme climate crises has long had an emergency character. Thus, despite a historical delay of several decades, after the successive droughts in Chart 1, the program is a concrete attempt to implement a permanent adaptation action in the regional context with a focus on populations at the base of the social pyramid.

This policy seeks to link the social protection provided by the partial pay-
ment of losses incurred by producers, given prolonged droughts to other mea-
sures, to improve the sustainability of agricultural production in the long term by
introducing coexistence technologies, training, stimuli to associations and coop-
eratives, and increased access to credit (BRASIL, 2002).

Furthermore, the operational structure of the CIP is innovative because it
seeks to adopt a shared institutional arrangement involving three federative enti-
ties (Federation, states, and municipalities) and farmers. Notably, the Guarantee
Fund, which provides the resources to make payments to beneficiaries in critical situations (e.g., Great Drought [2012–2017]), is formed by contributions from these actors.

The Table 5 furnishes the noted relevant information. It shows the evolution of benefit amounts and contributions of various agents in the CIP dynamics. To apply for insurance, farmers must register at the local level before planting each year's crop. If selected, per the established legal criteria, they join the scheme after paying their contribution via a bank slip. Insurance payments are made in fixed installments in the event of losses from drought or excessive rainfall equal to or greater than 50% of the plantations (e.g., starch, rice, beans, and maize) in the participating municipality where their crops are located.
<table><caption>Table 5 – History of the percentage and value of contributions from farmers, municipalities, states and the Union to the Crop-Insurance Fund, 2010-2019</caption><thead><tr><th>Harvest</th><th>Amount of Benefit (R$)</th><th>Number of installments</th><th>Amount of installment (R$)</th><th>Farmer's contribution (%)</th><th>Farmer's contribution (R$)</th><th>Municipal contribution (%)</th><th>Municipal contribution (R$)</th><th>State contribution (%)</th><th>State contribution (R$)</th><th>Federal Contribution (%)</th><th>Federal Contribution (R$)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>2009/10</td><td>600,00</td><td>4</td><td>150,00</td><td>1</td><td>6,00</td><td>3</td><td>18,00</td><td>6</td><td>36,00</td><td>20</td><td>120,00</td></tr><tr><td>2010/11</td><td>640,00</td><td>4</td><td>160,00</td><td>1</td><td>6,40</td><td>3</td><td>19,20</td><td>6</td><td>38,40</td><td>20</td><td>128,00</td></tr><tr><td>2011/12</td><td>680,00</td><td>5</td><td>136,00</td><td>1</td><td>6,80</td><td>3</td><td>20,40</td><td>6</td><td>40,80</td><td>20</td><td>136,00</td></tr><tr><td>2012/13</td><td>760,00</td><td>5</td><td>152,00</td><td>1,25</td><td>9,50</td><td>3,75</td><td>28,50</td><td>12,5</td><td>95,00</td><td>25</td><td>190,00</td></tr><tr><td>2013/14</td><td>850,00</td><td>5</td><td>170,00</td><td>1,5</td><td>12,75</td><td>4,5</td><td>38,25</td><td>15</td><td>127,50</td><td>30</td><td>255,00</td></tr><tr><td>2014/15</td><td>850,00</td><td>5</td><td>170,00</td><td>1,75</td><td>14,88</td><td>5,25</td><td>44,630</td><td>17,5</td><td>148,75</td><td>35</td><td>297,50</td></tr><tr><td>2015/16</td><td>850,00</td><td>5</td><td>170,00</td><td>2</td><td>17,00</td><td>6</td><td>51,00</td><td>20</td><td>170,00</td><td>40</td><td>340,00</td></tr><tr><td>2016/17</td><td>850,00</td><td>5</td><td>170,00</td><td>2</td><td>17,00</td><td>6</td><td>51,00</td><td>20</td><td>170,00</td><td>40</td><td>340,00</td></tr><tr><td>2017/18</td><td>850,00</td><td>5</td><td>170,00</td><td>2</td><td>17,00</td><td>6</td><td>51,00</td><td>20</td><td>170,00</td><td>40</td><td>340,00</td></tr><tr><td>2018/19</td><td>850,00</td><td>5</td><td>170,00</td><td>2</td><td>17,00</td><td>6</td><td>51,00</td><td>20</td><td>170,00</td><td>40</td><td>340,00</td></tr></tbody></table>

Source: DGR/SPA/MAPA (2020).
Regarding the performance of the CIP in the SUDENE area (including the states of the Northeast and part of northern Minas Gerais), between the 2009–2010 and 2018–2019 harvests, Table 6 shows a significant evolution in the number of participating or “adhering” municipalities. Evidently, the frequency increased in the years of prolonged drought, indicating that municipal administrations have incorporated the policy as a strategic instrument to “live with” and no longer “combat” the historical, predictable, and inevitable droughts of the regional territory. Similarly, the numbers of accredited farmers and those who received the benefit also grew significantly during the period, although a significant percentage remained without payment.

<table><caption>Table 6 – Evolution of the Crop-Insurance Program (CIP) in the SUDENE* area, 2010-2019</caption><thead><tr><th>Harvest</th><th>Adhered Municipalities (A)</th><th>Paid Municipalities (B)</th><th>%B/A</th><th>Adhered Family Farmers (C)</th><th>Paid Family Farmers (D)</th><th>%D/C</th><th>Value (R$ 1,00)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>2009/2010</td><td>860</td><td>801</td><td>93,1</td><td>661.802</td><td>639.227</td><td>96,6</td><td>383.536.200</td></tr><tr><td>2010/2011</td><td>989</td><td>261</td><td>26,4</td><td>737.917</td><td>166.935</td><td>22,6</td><td>106.838.400</td></tr><tr><td>2011/2012</td><td>1035</td><td>1015</td><td>98,1</td><td>771.343</td><td>769.023</td><td>99,7</td><td>1.384.241.400</td></tr><tr><td>2012/2013</td><td>1.118</td><td>980</td><td>87,7</td><td>977.552</td><td>865.319</td><td>88,5</td><td>969.043.020</td></tr><tr><td>2013/2014</td><td>1.263</td><td>894</td><td>70,8</td><td>1.177.452</td><td>909.444</td><td>77,2</td><td>773.027.400</td></tr><tr><td>2014/2015</td><td>1.248</td><td>1010</td><td>80,9</td><td>1.162.086</td><td>975.822</td><td>84,0</td><td>829.448.700</td></tr><tr><td>2015/2016</td><td>1.220</td><td>1035</td><td>84,8</td><td>991.853</td><td>864.894</td><td>87,2</td><td>735.159.900</td></tr><tr><td>2016/2017</td><td>1.096</td><td>704</td><td>64,2</td><td>884.062</td><td>566.996</td><td>64,1</td><td>481.946.600</td></tr><tr><td>2017/2018</td><td>1.215</td><td>560</td><td>46,1</td><td>903.452</td><td>522.425</td><td>57,8</td><td>444.061.250</td></tr><tr><td>2018/2019</td><td>1.141</td><td>480</td><td>42,1</td><td>801.522</td><td>425.404</td><td>53,1</td><td>361.593.400</td></tr><tr><td>TOTAL</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>6.468.896.270</td></tr></tbody></table>

Source: DGR/SPA/MAPA (2020).

*Includes the nine states in the Northeast and part of the north of Minas Gerais.

The discrepancy between the total number of “adhered” municipalities and farmers and those effectively “paid” has multiple explanations. One explanation regards variations and loss of intensity of the drought in certain areas of the region. Note that even with the adherence of many municipalities to program rules, rain reduces crop losses and disqualifies the location and its farmers from the list of potential recipients of the CIP premium. Another explanation regards the default of municipalities with the crop guarantee fund, making it impossible for registered farmers to receive the benefit. Alves (2009) notes that this behavior by municipal managers occurs during droughts and, mainly, in regular rainfall years. It is facilitated by the program’s legislation, which does not have efficient
collection mechanisms and can only suspend operations in the event of non-payment of contributions from the municipalities.

Regarding the volume of resources applied, the CIP injected more than R$ 6.4 billion into the economy of the Brazilian semi-arid region during the period analyzed (Table 6). The periods with the highest amounts of benefits paid were 2011–2012 and 2012–2013, the initial years of the Great Drought when additional installments were released to the program's beneficiaries through the edition of provisional measures of 587 and 635 (DGR/SPA/MAPA, 2020). The Figure 1 shows the distribution of the amounts paid in the region's municipalities when the prolonged drought was beginning to wane for an in-depth view of the case of the Northeast. Despite the differentiation in the value ranges, varying from R$ 2,550 to more than R$4 million, this policy has acquired a marked capillarity in the geography of the semi-arid territory.

<figure><img src="image_16.png" /><figcaption>Figure 1. Amount paid by the Food Security Guarantee in Northeastern municipalities in the 2016–2017 crop year</figcaption></figure>

Source: Santana and Santos (2019, p. 112).

Despite the results and the innovative institutional organization of the CIP, an analysis of its budget performance highlights limits that deserve attention. Initially, the program does not cover the entire regional family farming public, much larger than the number of beneficiaries served annually (AQUINO; ALVES; VIDAL; 2020; SILVA et al., 2020). Moreover, its capacity to compensate producer losses is reduced since the fixed value of the benefits does not consider the real dimensions of losses of individual production units, functioning more as an emergency cash transfer than insurance for production (ALVES, 2009).
In addition, questions about the role of the CIP in strengthening the adaptive capacity of low-income family farmers remain (KÜHNE, 2020). The problem is that, similarly to PRONAF, which has focused on supporting extensive livestock farming, CIP actions have contributed little to induce structural changes in rain-fed agriculture in the region. The benefit payments are not accompanied by compliance with conditionalities and other actions provided for in its legal framework, which stimulate the adoption of collective organization practices and productive technologies for coexistence with the semi-arid region before droughts occur. The territorial coverage of the program in drought years indicates success in guaranteeing a minimum income for family farmers in the Northeast. However, by partially compensating for non-conditionality losses, it encourages them to continue “doing more of the same,” developing productive systems highly vulnerable to recurrent droughts.

Without disregarding the relevance of the limits presented, emphasizing that the CIP is an important part of the social protection network is necessary. In addition to directly impacting the productive units, it injects income into local economies during extreme climate shocks. Thus, its permanent implementation and articulation with PRONAF have been fundamental for the social reproduction of family farming in the Northeast that survived the Great Drought.

## The role of the PRONAF and Crop-Insurance Program in adapting family farms in the Northeast to prolonged drought

As discussed, PRONAF and CIP in the Northeast had a relevant budgetary performance during the period studied and maintained the dynamics of their operations during the Great Drought (2012–2017). Consequently, the resources released by such policies generated multiple socio-economic impacts. Studies show that access to rural credit through AGROAMIGO enables poor farmers to improve their chances of market insertion and stimulates increased production (ABRAMOVAY et al., 2013; GUEDES; ALMEIDA; SIQUEIRA, 2021). Regarding the CIP, recent research indicates its effectiveness in reducing food insecurity in the field since the beneficiary farmers use 80.1% of the money received to buy food for the family (BARBOSA, 2019).

Thus, the programs contribute to maintaining family farming and the continuity of productive activities. Given the destructuring effects of the prolonged drought, when the IBGE went into the field at the end of 2017 to conduct the Agricultural Census, it should have found family farming “without production.” However, that is not the case.
Surprisingly, census takers identified some type of production in 95.5% (1,755,995/1,838,846) of the small family properties visited (IBGE/SIDRA, 2019). Together, they accounted for a significant share of the production of various Northeastern agriculture and livestock segments (Graph 3), which would hardly have been possible without the rural credit and crop insurance.

<figure><img src="image_17.png" /><figcaption>Graph 3. Participation of family farming in the main agricultural and livestock products of the Northeast (2017) (In %)</figcaption></figure>

Source: Agricultural Census 2017 (IBGE/SIDRA, 2019).
(*) Percentage share (%) of family farming in the number of heads in 2017. (**) Quantity of honey sold.

However, poverty and vulnerability of family farming in the Northeast are far from being solved because there is a marked inequality within the regional family farm, with a large contingent of poor and vulnerable producers still predominating in the so-called PRONAF Group B.

Accordingly, Table 7 shows that the intermediate and consolidated part of the segment is tiny (11.3%) but generates 62.3% of the wealth produced by the segment, emphasizing the impressive average value by the non-pronafianos (R$ 811.744,00). Alongside this more capitalized fraction is a large mass of poor family farmers (88.7%). These producers, in aggregate, generated wealth for the regional economy of more than R$ 5.9 billion in 2017. However, given their large contingent, this amount guaranteed an extremely low average value per year (R$ 3,839.00).
<table><caption>Table 7. Distribution of the Total Production Value (VTP) of family farming in the Northeast by classification of PRONAF groups (2017)</caption><thead><tr><td>Categories (*)</td><td>Establishments with production</td><td>%</td><td>VTP (R$1.00)</td><td>%</td><td>Average VTP (R$ 1,00)</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Group B</td><td>1.558.106</td><td>88,7</td><td>5.981.777.000</td><td>37,7</td><td>3.839</td></tr><tr><td>Group V</td><td>196.262</td><td>11,2</td><td>8.576.500.000</td><td>54,0</td><td>43.699</td></tr><tr><td>No Pronafiano</td><td>1.627</td><td>0,1</td><td>1.320.708.000</td><td>8,3</td><td>811.744</td></tr><tr><td>Total Family</td><td>1.755.995</td><td>100,0</td><td>15.878.992.000</td><td>100,0</td><td>9.043</td></tr></tbody></table>

Source: Agricultural Census 2017 (IBGE/SIDRA, 2019).

(*) Group B (poor) = with gross income up to R$ 20 thousand; Group V (intermediate) = with gross income from R$ 20 thousand to R$ 360 thousand; Non-Pronafiano (consolidated) = with gross income above R$ 360 thousand.

Thus, the expansion of PRONAF and CIP continues to be an important strategy to strengthen family farming in the Northeast. This expansion of scale, however, faces several bottlenecks, such as the limitation from the lack of technical assistance.

The Graph 4 highlights the limit as a serious shortcoming faced by local family farmers, given that 92.7% did not receive any technical guidance to improve the management of their enterprise, the performance of their crops and livestock, and their access to public policies. This bottleneck is evident in all states, being more serious in Maranhão and Piauí. It demonstrates the weaknesses of the regional TARE system regarding insufficient personnel, resources, and support structures, compromising the expansion and quality of services.

<figure><img src="image_18.png" /><figcaption>Graph 4. Access to technical assistance by Northeastern family establishments (2017) (In %)</figcaption></figure>

Source: Agricultural Census 2017 (IBGE/SIDRA, 2019).
Evidently, it is not all about scale. It is necessary to adjust the focus of the policies studied to increase the adaptive capacity of family farmers to climate change. Initiatives such as PRONAF cannot focus only on agriculture and livestock (AQUINO; BASTOS, 2015). Note that the seasonal nature of agricultural activities in the Northeast makes the income from agriculture uncertain in time and space. Hence, it is important to recognize and bet on the inherent multifunctionality of family farmers to enable them combine the practice of agricultural and non-agricultural activities inside and outside the rural establishment as a complementary or compensatory strategy.

As Alencar Jr. and Alves (2006) note, some strategies for non-agricultural income generation in the northeastern region, focused on the domestic market and proximity, are noted. They range from small and family agro-industries to rural-ecological and religious tourism; handicraft (e.g., straw, clay, and wood); construction services; expansion and repair of public works; production and repair of parts, utensils, machinery, tires, and equipment; and small and medium manufacturing of articles, such as hammocks, clothing, and metallurgical products.

Thus, choosing to direct a portion of rural financing to take advantage of this potential and helping generate a wider range of income opportunities for families can reduce the pressure on natural resources, reducing environmental degradation, thus preventing intensification and expansion of the desertification observed in various parts of the region.

Furthermore, it is necessary to exert a major effort to articulate public policies for social protection with those for productive inclusion (AQUINO et al., 2017; MELLO, 2015; SILVEIRA et al., 2016). The poverty and socio-environmental vulnerability that characterizes normal family farming are multidimensional. Given its complexity and magnitude, it is challenging to expect that a credit or income guarantee policy can increase the adaptive capacity of the segment. In fact, any action directed to this public, in isolation, will have little chance of success. As Alves (2009, p. 298) explains:

> An integrated action strategy is needed from production (with training programs) and an effective technical assistance system and rural extension suited to the region (with financing and protection of production) and commercialization process (with incentives and training to add value and guarantee sales at fair prices) is needed. However, even these actions will be insufficient if the structural problem is not solved: access to land. Otherwise, there will be no change in the unfavorable conditions for peasants in the Northeast, who will remain in constant socio-economic precariousness, subject to the scourges of drought.
Therefore, considering the spending cuts and the “dismantling” of some rural development public policies in recent years (MATTOS, 2018; SABOURIN; CRAV-IOTTI; MILHORANCE, 2020), the scenario of family farming in the Northeast is challenging. The segment has withstood one of the biggest climatic shocks in its recent history, but its future remains strongly linked to State intervention. Despite the advances achieved, regional productive activities remain vulnerable to the droughts native to the region and lack more support and diversification. Moreover, the situation of most of the segment may have worsened with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, further research may reveal whether PRONAF and CIP have suffered discontinuities or managed to maintain their stabilized trajectory during the analyzed period.

## Concluding remarks

This briefly reviews two main public policies supporting family farming in Brazil: the PRONAF and CIP. The research focused on the Northeast of Brazil in the 2010–2019 period. It examines the performance of the policies and their role in adapting family farming to prolonged droughts.

The study shows that droughts are a historical problem in the Northeast Region. The last major drought occurred from 2012 to 2017, directly impacting regional productive activities. Despite the losses caused, family farming resisted and continued to be the main form of work and production in the countryside at the end of the second decade of the 21st century. This observation has been strengthened via a set of public policies since the 2000s, including a broad water and social protection network and policies to support production.

Regarding PRONAF, the program's operations were maintained throughout the period analyzed, injecting R$ 36.5 billion into the local economy and distributing almost eight million loans mainly to support livestock. The CIP showed great growth during the drought, applying more than R$ 6.4 billion in the regional economy and other municipalities of the Brazilian semi-arid region, thereby showing great geographic capillarity.

The resources applied by the policies have generated various productive and socio-economic impacts. Their most important effects regard increased production and improved food security for low-income family farmers. Investments have also contributed to maintaining the participation of family farming in the main production chains of the regional agricultural sector. Even so, most of the family segment remains very poor, with low production capacity.

The results indicate the need to maintain and expand credit and rural insurance policies in the region. However, this expansion has limits, such as the lack of
technical assistance. Beyond the need for scale expansion, integrating and diversifying activities financed is a challenge.

Therefore, as droughts and their intensity in the Northeastern territory worsen, given global warming, the future of local family farming increasingly depends on integrated rural development policies for income generation to adapt productive activities to climatic shocks. Within such initiatives, PRONAF and CIP are fundamental. However, such policies must overcome their sectoral bias and focus on a broader strategy of coexistence with the regional environment.

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CHAPTER 6

The role of street-level bureaucrats in
implementing cross-sectoral policies:
combining social and water access
strategies in Brazil's semi-arid region<fnref n="1" />

Patricia S. Mesquita, Carolina Milhorance, Louise Cavalcante

Introduction

Increasing the rural population access to water has been the central objective of development strategies implemented in the Brazilian semi-arid region for the past decades. In the 1990s, a policy paradigm known as the “coexistence with the semi-arid” emerged as a response to the inability of historical public interventions centered on deploying large dams and transposition of watersheds to reduce the vulnerability of rural populations to the impacts of drought (MACHADO; ROV-ERE, 2017). This paradigm was consolidated through a long process of learning and mobilization of civil society that led to the formation of the ASA network (Articulação do Semiárido). It advocated ideas that social factors aggravated the impacts of drought, and living and producing in the semi-arid region is possible by maintaining environmental resilience and using stocks of resources during periods of scarcity. Thus, access to water began to be promoted per a decentralized logic, characterized by the construction of cisterns to collect and store rain-water for human consumption and productive activities.

This perspective was institutionalized as a public policy of the federal govern-
ment in 2003, following the *One Million Cisterns Program* (P1MC).

The P1MC is part of a broader strategy to reduce poverty and food insecu-
rity (the Zero Hunger Program), coordinating the federal government's social
and productive inclusion actions (LIMA, 2007; NOGUEIRA, 2017). Led by the

<footnote n="1">¹ Originally published in Portuguese in: Patrícia S. Mesquita, Carolina Milhorance et Louise Cavalcante, « O papel dos burocratas de nível da rua na implementação de políticas intersetoriais: articulação dos programas sociais e de acesso à água no Semiárido brasileiro », *Confins* [En ligne], 50 | 2021, mis en ligne le 27 juin 2021, consulté le 01 juillet 2021. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/confins/37300</footnote>
former Ministry of Social Development and implemented by ASA, the P1MC promoted training, education, and mobilization initiatives for rural families to build cisterns. In addition to household cisterns for human consumption (“first water”), other social technologies were gradually considered to meet the various demands for water for food production (“second water”), such as modified cisterns and dams, and others to meet the water demand in schools (SANTANA; ARSKY; SOARES, 2011). The dissemination of cisterns is catalytic in coordinating other rural development programs in the semi-arid region, which justifies the focus of this article on this strategy.

In 2011, the federal government launched another major poverty reduction plan—the *Brazil Without Poverty Plan* (*Plano Brasil sem Miséria, BSM*). This plan promoted universal access to water in rural areas (CAMPOS; MELO ALVES, 2014). As a cross-sectoral plan, it covered technical assistance, water and electricity access, and marketing support. Beyond setting more ambitious goals for disseminating decentralized water infrastructures, the plan highlighted the need to increase policy coordination for poverty reduction, a multidimensional and multifaceted challenge. Water access composed the plans' productive inclusion strategy. This goal was mainly promoted through a program established in 2011—the Water for All Program (*Água para Todos, APT*)—managed by the Ministry of National Integration and implemented by a series of public and private agents.

The establishment of the abovementioned policy framework changed the decision-making process in disseminating rainwater catchment cisterns. It limited the role of civil society organizations in implementing the P1MC, which attracted criticism. Thus, the federal government created a new institutional framework for collaboration between the state and civil society to disseminate water cisterns in 2013. Developed by the Ministry of Social Development, it was called the Cisterns' Program, representing a bricolage between P1MC and Water for All (NOGUEIRA; MILHORANCE; MENDES, 2020). It promoted water access for human supply and productive use (first and second water cisterns). These “production-oriented cisterns” were disseminated by ASA's members since 2007 through the project called *One Land and Two Waters* (*Uma Terra Duas Águas, P1+2*).

Although most water and social policies were promoted through an integrated approach, the multiplication of programs with distinct implementation logics has increased the level of fragmentation of the strategies. Studies provide different explanations of the causes of public policy fragmentation. A first perspective mobilizes administrative rationalities, such as institutional differences, communication problems, and lack of clarity about the competencies of each sector (LUNDQVIST, 2004; REICHARDT; ROGGE, 2016; UNDERDAL, 1980).
However, several studies highlight the need to analyze policy incoherence through
the lens of negotiation processes between interest groups (ADELLE; RUSSEL,
2013; ALLOUCHE; MIDDLETON; GYAWALI, 2014; JORDAN; LENSCHOW,
2008; REICHARDT; ROGGE, 2016; STEVENS, 2018). Accordingly, program-
matic conflicts are considered inherent to cross-sectoral public action and not
merely the result of administrative bottlenecks (WEITZ et al., 2017). This study
builds on the second perspective, understanding cross-sectorality as a political
coordination process between programs and actors with different perceptions,
interests, and implementation practices. Moreover, it innovates by discussing
the informal role of state managers and technical extensionists in coordinating
actions during program implementation.

Hence, the study combines the literature on policy integration and street-
level bureaucrats, which addresses the influence (and discretion) of local actors in
policy implementation (LIPSKY, 2010; SONG, 2018). Lipsky (2010) argues that
these actors play key roles as public policy implementers and act as decision-mak-
ers in many circumstances, influencing policy outcomes. Furthermore, differ-
ent bureaucratic layers may have distinct policy perceptions as they experience
distinct relationships and challenges in the implementation process (OLIVEIRA;
LOTTA; FREITAS, 2019)the Bolsa Família Program (PBF. There are several
advances in understanding the role of street-level bureaucrats in implementing
health (LOTTA, 2014), education (NOVATO; NAJBERG; LOTTA, 2020), and
social (EIRÓ, 2019) policies in Brazil. However, the influence of these actors
on rural development policy outcomes has been overlooked. Moreover, though
recent studies point to the influence of mid-level bureaucracy in promoting
cross-sectorality (OLIVEIRA; LOTTA; FREITAS, 2019)the Bolsa Família Program
(PBF, the role of street-level bureaucrats deserves more attention regarding policy
integration. This study bridges these gaps by analyzing the articulation of the
Cisterns Program with other rural development programs in the Semi-arid.

The text is divided into four sections. The introduction is followed by the
methodology, which describes the study setting. We interviewed federal, state,
and municipal managers and technicians involved in implementing the Cisterns
Program and other rural development programs in the Semi-arid. The third sec-
tion critically analyzes the instruments for coordinating poverty reduction pro-
grams at the federal level. The fourth section presents informal mechanisms of
integration at the local level, considering the perception of federal managers of
the Cisterns' Program and the pragmatic role of extension workers in implement-
ing and integrating the programs. It also discusses the importance of establishing
institutionalized spaces for territorial coordination.
Study Area and Methodology

The study was conducted in two locations in the Brazilian semi-arid region (Figure 1). Beyond the impacts of recurring droughts, the rural populations of the region face challenges of land regularization and competition for water use for different purposes (e.g., energy, agriculture, and urban supply) (MARENGO et al., 2019; MILHORANCE et al., 2019). Between 2012 and 2017, a long period of drought caused socio-environmental and economic impacts, such as decreased agricultural production, significant loss of livestock, and reduced levels in water reservoirs for human needs, animal feed, and energy generation (DE NYS; ENGLE, 2014)an area that is defined by both a minimal amount of annual rainfall (i.e., 800 millimeters per year on average. Recent studies also examine the contribution of cisterns and other rural development strategies to reduce drought vulnerability (LEMOS et al., 2016; MILHORANCE et al., 2020)poor agricultural households in less developed regions rely on different types of assets that define their overall adaptive capacity (AC. Figure 2 illustrates the main types of cisterns disseminated by these programs.

<figure><img src="image_19.png" /><figcaption>Figure 1. Study area in the Brazilian semi-arid region.</figcaption></figure>

Source: Carolina Milhorance
<figure><img src="image_20.png" /><figcaption>Figure 2. Main types of cisterns disseminated by the program</figcaption></figure>

Source: Patrícia Mesquita, Paulo Afonso - October/2017
*On the left, cistern for domestic consumption; on the right, for small production.

A total of 59 semi-structured interviews were conducted in three stages. The first stage was conducted in the Paulo Afonso, Juazeiro, and Petrolina municipalities in Bahia and Pernambuco (October 2017 - October 2018). The second was conducted in Itapipoca, Santa Quitéria, Itatira, and Quixeramobim in Ceará (September 2018). Such interviews were conducted in the company of technicians or coordinators of institutions responsible for implementing the analyzed programs. The interviews addressed topics such as policy implementation, coordination, and institutional conflict challenges, family farming in the region, drought management strategies, cistern installation processes, and drought impacts in rural households. The last stage was conducted in Brasília to interview the federal-level stakeholders and implementation partners (November 2018). Moreover, official documents, such as government plans and program regulatory instruments, were analyzed qualitatively.

# Coordinating Social Policies and the Cisterns' Program at the national level

## Coordination instruments and political disputes

In Brazil, recent poverty reduction strategies were established following a transversal approach to policy design and implementation. For instance, the Zero Hunger Program promotes cross-sectoriality as a founding principle (TAPAJÓS; RODRIGUES; COELHO, 2010). Likewise, the National Policy on Food and Nutrition Security incorporated the promotion of universal access to water as a guideline and defined policy integration to promote human rights and adequate food (Decree No. 7.272/2010). Finally, the Brazil Without Poverty Plan
reinforced the need to combine income generation and initiatives and improve living conditions, including universal water access (Decree No. 7.492/2011).

In this context, procedural instruments contributed to coordinating the social programs: i) beneficiary databases (e.g., the Unified Registry for Social Programs – *CadUnico*), ii) the cash transfer programs’ magnetic card, iii) coordination councils, and iv) territorial development plans.

The mainstreaming of the food and nutrition security approach into the Unified Health System represents an additional effort to integrate broad social development strategies. Nevertheless, inter-ministerial coordination related to specific actions, geographical influence, and budgetary resources remains a challenge.

Regarding the Cisterns' Program, *CadUnico* is among the main instruments for coordination with other poverty reduction strategies. Managed by the Ministry of Social Development, this instrument corresponds to a large database that assembles and characterizes low-income households in Brazil. It has been used to guide the design of major social policies in the country, including beneficiaries' selection by the Cisterns' Program, cash transfer, productive inclusion (*Programa Fomento*), rural electrification, and social protection initiatives (BARTHOLO et al., 2010). For instance, note that the Cisterns' Program beneficiaries include rural low-wage families who meet the eligibility criteria for cash transfers. Although being registered in the CadUnico is not conditional for selecting beneficiary families, the Ministry of Social Development guidelines recommends increasing coordination between initiatives (Operational Instruction 01/2009 Senarc/Sesan).

Furthermore, government officers leading the Cisterns' Program at the national level mentioned the CadUnico as an instrument for i) coordination with the health sector's food and nutrition surveillance system, ii) identification of beneficiaries to productive inclusion initiatives (*Fomento Program*), and iii) installation of production-oriented cisterns. According to one interviewee, the surveillance system provides a national food insecurity map to target families benefiting from productive inclusion initiatives, including cistern installation. Another example of cross-sectoral collaboration was noted, as community health agents have been key actors in monitoring the water quality of household cisterns. However, these integration objectives face challenges and territorial differences given an insufficient involvement of the Ministry of Health.

Finally, the universalization goals of the Water for All Program induced a significant increase in the number of implementing agents and consequent dispersion of financial resources. Moreover, the program contrasted with its previous version—the P1MC—and included all the cistern types, such as the non-locally-produced plastic-made ones. It meant a major change in policy implementation
as the main partners of the national government to the P1MC were ASA civil society organizations. These organizations lost their implementation role to municipal governments and regional public companies (Development Company of the Valleys of São Francisco and Parnaíba, Codevasf, and the National Department of Works Against Droughts, Dnocs) that established bidding agreements with private companies. In the first bidding process, two multinational companies won the agreement, inducing strong criticism regarding the program's inability to develop the local economy and disseminating infrastructures adapted to the region's environment (ASA, 2011; PEREIRA, 2016).

Given these conflicts, the Cisterns' Programs emerged to stabilize the model for contracting civil society implementing partners. A new legal framework was established to simplify the processes for contracting and accountability of civil society organizations (Law No. 12,873/2013). The framework formalized service provision agreements between the state and private non-profit entities accredited by the Ministry of Social Development, based on a public call for proposals and a standardized call for proposals (with exemption from bidding). They included rules for the design of the implementation project, quotation of items used in training and construction materials, publication of calls for proposals, and formalization of contracts with implementing organizations (SANTANA; ARSKY, 2016). From the interviews, the same model later contaminated the Water for All Program; however, given its high institutional complexity and leadership committed to universalization rather than social participation objectives, the adjustments resulted in an institutional bricolage. The two strategies survived simultaneously in two different ministries, with a low coordination level (NOGUEIRA; MILHORANCE; MENDES, 2020). This case highlights political divergences between state bureaucracies and between executing agents. From the policy integration literature, disagreements over policy priorities and implementation strategies are key drivers of institutional and programmatic fragmentation, especially concerning programs in different sectors (BIESBROEK; CANDEL, 2020).

## Operational barriers to policy coordination

In addition to the political challenges described above, operational barriers contribute to policy fragmentation. The *Fomento Program* constitutes a key example. It combines social protection and productive inclusion by directing cash and equipment transfer to vulnerable rural families. Notably, this program was implemented by the same unit that coordinated the Cisterns' Program (the National Secretariat for Food Security and Nutrition in the Ministry of Social Development). The beneficiary families are identified, given that the CadUnico and transfers rely on previously established cash transfer magnetic cards. Moreover, these
families benefit from technical assistance to increase their agricultural produc-
tion. Further, they are included in another nationwide database to identify family
farmers—the declaration of aptitude to the National Program for Strengthening
Family Farming. It corresponds to an additional instrument for targeting rural
development strategies.

The interviews indicated that the fact that the same unit managed Cisterns’
and Fomento programs favored the informal coordination between the initia-
tives. However, divergent implementation procedures hindered the coordination
objective. In 2015, the installation of production-oriented cisterns became offi-
cially associated with technical assistance and cash transfers for investment in
productive projects. For instance, the complementarity principle posits that the
beneficiaries of the Fomento Program should benefit from production-oriented
cisterns or another source of water for production. A pilot project combining
these initiatives was conducted in the late 2010s. According to a government
officer:

"The idea behind the fusion of the Cisterns and the Fomento Programs was [to] combine the cistern installation, design of an implementation project, and technical assistance for up to a year and a half. Sometimes the beneficiary receives the technology [the cistern], but if [the beneficiary] does not have support, [the beneficiary] gets lost in the way." With technical assistance, "the possibility that [farmers] will succeed is greater."

Finally, there is a perceived need to combine the distribution of water infra-
structures for production with other productive inclusion initiatives within the
Ministry of Social Development, particularly those promoting the marketing of
agricultural products. For instance, public food purchases became major strat-
egies for promoting agricultural commercialization. The *Food Purchase* and the
*School Meals* programs purchase food produced by family farmers, with exemp-
tion from bidding procedures, and allocate it to populations in a situation of food
and nutrition insecurity and public institutions such as schools and hospitals.
These initiatives can leverage the results of the actions of access to water for pro-
duction (MESQUITA; BURSZTYN, 2016; MESQUITA; MILHORANCE, 2019;
MILHORANCE; SABOURIN; MENDES, 2019) due to the reliance on rain-fed
production systems and the limited capacity to cope with and adapt to impacts.
The Brazilian Food Acquisition Program (PAA). The interviewees noted that they
advocated for increased coordination between the initiatives, which, together, can
ensure products produced by beneficiaries from the Cisterns’ and Fomento pro-
grams are directly supplied to public markets. Despite the inexistence of formal
instruments for integration between the strategies, coordination has been pro-
moted informally at the local level.

Mechanisms for informal coordination
at the local level

Despite the perception of the managers interviewed on the progress of social policies toward integration at the national level, the instruments described above are recent or not very effective. Despite the objectives of procedural simplification by the Cisterns' Program, it remained a complex strategy whose implementation involved a broad network of state and non-state actors. Furthermore, public funds are insufficient to promote universal access to water, especially water for agricultural production. Therefore, state actors at the implementation level attest to a certain pragmatism and autonomy in defining the criteria for combining policy support. The results indicate that municipal-level officers and technical assistance technicians play an active role in coordinating instruments at the local level. The perception that the *de facto* national program coordination occurs at the subnational level is shared by various actors:

> "In my interpretation, it is the [national] government that disconnects things by theme: water, health, food, nutritional security... When it gets to the local level, their timing is the same. There is only one reality: the organizations and municipal council [...] benefit from all the policies and have the perception of the entire municipality. The organizations that [assure] technical assistance, water access... make the connection because they are at the front. [...] the higher [the government levels], the more the coordination is not very concrete."

Street-level bureaucrat studies discuss the often-discretionary role of local actors in implementing public policies. Lipsky (2010) describes the role of local public service officials, teachers, social workers, police officers, doctors, health workers, and a range of actors in determining service provision eligibility. This role reinforces the rights of some citizens to public goods and services at the expense of general taxpayers and those whose claims have been denied. Relatively high degrees of discretion and autonomy from organizational authority are the sources of these actors' power in policymaking. Much of their behavior has developed in via routines and simplifications to cope with complicated tasks and insufficient financial resources.

In the Brazilian semi-arid region, technicians actively define the eligi-
bility criteria for different kinds of supports (agroecology technical assistance,
production-oriented cisterns, marketing programs). Therefore, they act as direct agents coordinating policies at the local level in implementation processes (MILHORANCE et al., 2020). Local state officers and implementing organizations play a leading role in combining territorial actions. This process is conducted via different mechanisms: i) guidance for municipal managers to combine actions considered complementary, ii) the active role of technical assistance agents in the dissemination of information and support (often informal) to farmers to participate in related initiatives, and iii) coordination between local organizations and state managers in municipal and territorial committees.

## Individual action of local agents through the Cisterns Program

The attempt by municipal public agents to set access to productive and consumption water cisterns as an eligibility criterion for other rural development initiatives has been constant. For example, the interviews indicated that ASA members used the mapping of production-oriented cisterns to select beneficiaries for agroecology support initiatives. From the perspective of local agents and technicians, the Cisterns Program has facilitated access to other policies such as public food procurement, the Fomento Program, and other technical assistance initiatives. Further, per an interview, the Cisterns Program is a gateway to other social and productive policies. Civil society representatives in Pernambuco shared the same perspective, officially including public purchases as marketing opportunities in the business plans for family farmers as a condition to benefit from local projects (MILHORANCE; SABOURIN; CHECHI, 2018).

Individual action was also observed. For example, a municipal agent of the Cisterns Program sought specific microcredit funding for farmers who benefited from cisterns installation in Alagoas. Another interviewee in Bahia highlighted the attempt to informally coordinate the Cistern Program with actions by sub-national authorities (Bahia Superintendence of Technical Assistance and Rural Extension). According to this interviewee, integration occurs at the municipal level per the sensitivity of the state officers and secretaries. In Ceará state, a desalination project selected only beneficiaries who disposed of cisterns. Moreover, the entities implementing this project directed the organization of weekly fairs to those benefiting from the Cisterns Program.

The need for coordination between different municipal departments is a major challenge, presupposing a dialogue between bureaucracies guided by different references, logics, and modus operandi. Coordination at the municipal level depends on the relational capacity of the bureaucracy (OLIVEIRA; LOTTA; FREITAS, 2019) the Bolsa Família Program (PBF. However, this study showed the relevance of municipal agents’ decisions in promoting coordination between
programs. According to Lipsky (2010), municipal agents have some autonomy in implementing public policies, though to a lesser extent than frontline actors like technical assistance providers. Unlike extensionists, the actions of these managers are more strongly guided by program results. Both communicate in an implementation network beyond normative decisions at the federal level and treat the implementation process as an ongoing elaboration process and an arena in which different actors interact and use their resources (SONG, 2018). Within this network, the role of local councils is also relevant.

### Pragmatic role of technical assistance providers

Field technical assistance providers in civil society and public agencies play an important role in coordinating programs at the local level (Figure 3). This observation confirms the results of other studies illustrating how information about the different modalities of rural credit and the purchase rules from public institutions is disseminated through technical assistance (MILHORANCE; SABOURIN; MENDES, 2019).

According to managers of the Cisterns Program, in some cases, farmers produced satisfactorily but did not market their products, a challenge that technical assistance can address. In disseminating production-oriented cisterns, technical providers are essential, given their proximity to the beneficiaries. Interviews illustrate this relationship:

> "We conduct training and technical assistance sessions in which the families are informed about the importance of crop insurance, that they should contract the insurance, participate in the rural development councils, and ask the municipalities to join the insurance framework. In some cases, we prepared the credit project [such] that the families could [access] credit. In other cases, we encouraged families to access public food purchases."

Another interesting point is the fact that the Cisterns Program acts as a gate-
way for promoting agroecological practices, though outside its initial objective:

> "We have a very interesting experience in the semi-arid region, namely the public calls for agroecology technical assistance. In these calls [are] the organizations that won the lots. . . In the semi-arid, [...] one of the strategies we set up [was to] to work with those families [...] already involved in the agroecological transition process [through] P1+2 project. That is, these [...] families [...] have already received the first water cistern and gone through the whole process of capacity-building, training, and mobilization [and] received the second water cistern, which included capacity-building
on water management, [...] production with micro-irrigation systems, [and] agroecological production and all this perspective. [...] So we expect that these families will continue the work...”

The same strategy was adopted by other implementing agencies, as demonstrated by Milhorance et al. (2018). For example, in 2014, the former Ministry of Agrarian Development launched a call for proposals to provide agroecological technical assistance. An implementing agency in Pernambuco reported having selected rural communities that had already undergone productive training during the installation of cisterns, which facilitated the interest of producers in agroecological practices. According to the technician reports, most of the production promoted with support from the agroecological support was marketed in agroecological fairs and public purchases (MILHORANCE; SABOURIN; CHECHI, 2018). Regarding agroecology, beyond individuals and informal strategies, the coordination process is part of a political project developed in the scope of ASA and coordinated with the National Agroecology Articulation. As per a representative, “a shared understanding by the National Agroecology Articulation is this perspective that the calls for agroecology support contributed to the convergence of public policies for territorial development. Agroecological support can include even broader debates of a global nature such as desertification and climate change.”

In the case of the cash transfers, the interviews indicated that technical providers coordinate social and productive inclusion. The interviewees noted the potential synergy of an integrated arrangement between the Cisterns, Fomento, and technical assistance programs: it was not feasible to support actions in the semi-arid region that did not include water access.

Notably, technical assistance and training for cistern construction and water quality control are included in the methodological design of the Cisterns Program, which ensures greater appropriation of the technologies and agricultural practices by beneficiaries and the potential for linkages with other programs given the long-term collaboration of technicians with farmers. Under the Water for All Program, other institutions distribute plastic-made cisterns, including private companies. In this program, the training component for construction and maintenance of the cisterns and social mobilization is absent. Hence, in addition to the criticisms initially raised on the program's lower capacity to promote local development, the potential for its coordination with other social strategies at the local level is reduced. The plastic-made cisterns are delivered to the beneficiaries without involvement or training.

Finally, public rural extension services have fewer human resources to meet the demand. The lack of financial resources for transport to the communities adds
challenges. In this context, the technicians' discretion in defining the coverage of their actions is even greater and is sometimes influenced by the degree of access of the technicians to farmers and their personal relationship with local leaders.

*Municipal councils and territorial development committees*

In addition to the role of technical assistance providers and municipal agents, the role of municipal rural development councils and territorial committees in integrating a series of public actions at the local level should also be highlighted. They establish platforms to coordinate actors and initiatives for productive inclusion (technical assistance, development, and marketing support) and water access on the territory (MILHORANCE; SABOURIN; CHECHI, 2018). Technical experts interviewed stated that all policies are somehow discussed in these councils. In Pernambuco, it was noted that the Cisterns Program contributed to strengthening and empowering the municipal council and territorial committees as an instance of public policy debate.

The creation of local councils is based on the territorial approach to development based on the idea that territories are spaces for actors' coordination and proximity ties between agents in development initiatives (BACELAR, 2010; CARON, 2017). Notably, the rural sectoral essence of territorial policies in Brazil is not addressed (ECHEVERRI, 2010). Studies show more juxtaposition than territorial public policy integration (LOTTA; FAVARETO, 2016). However, the importance of these mechanisms for coordinating actions at the local level has been demonstrated. According to agents of the Cisterns Program, a project with 1,500 families in the *Sertão do Pajeú*, Pernambuco state, coordinated a set of other initiatives that impacted the territory, helping to consolidate a regional perspective.

Moreover, the councils contribute to ensuring greater stability and transparency in the work of street-level bureaucrats by making public the targeting of some programs to certain regions or communities. For example, the distribution of household cisterns has the prerogative of universalization, unlike production-oriented cisterns. Although access to water has been incorporated as a basic component of the human right to adequate food, the financial resources available have not been sufficient for universalization. In this context, the definition of beneficiary regions and communities has been based on objective metrics, such as the food insecurity map and the profile of the target public established in a decree (9.606/2018). However, subjective criteria are also used, such as the productive potential of the families.

In a study on street-level bureaucrats in the health area, Lotta (2018) demonstrated that the discretionary actions of health community agents are highly
influenced by their professional trajectories and relation with the community where they work and reside. Thus, the results of policy implementation can be partially explained by the relationships established by bureaucrats. Accordingly, beneficiaries of cash transfer programs are subject to the judgments of social workers to maintain their registration. This personal value judgment exceeds the program's rules, which should be based on the beneficiary's profile and other conditionalities. Thus, the social right would be compromised (EIRÓ, 2019). Therefore, as personal values of these bureaucrats can limit the expansion of potential benefits of social programs; hence, their judgments must also be considered in the implementation of public policies.

Strengthening local councils as spaces for coordination can ensure greater transparency in allocating public benefits and reduce the negative effects of discretion. However, these councils have faced budget cuts since 2016, and many have been rendered unviable (SABOURIN; CRAVIOTTI; MILHORANCE, 2020). Finally, if this exercise can induce a process of exclusion of some individuals, it can adapt public policies to local demands, pragmatically integrating actions. Thus, to evaluate how these interferences happen in practice, it is necessary to consider the dimension of agency and the judgments of bureaucrats as central elements in the design, analysis, and management of policies that aim to promote social inclusion, and that can be influenced by these actors (PIRES; LOTTA; TORRES JUNIOR, 2018).

## Conclusion

The Cisterns Program has come a long way in learning and reformulation since its launch in 2003. Implementation challenges have made it necessary to adapt the program at various stages, as with any strategy that covers a wide geographical area, with ambitious objectives such as promoting access to water and reducing poverty. The multidimensional perspective of poverty requires integrated strategies that combine actions for productive inclusion, marketing, sustainable production, food security, and access to water. Among the various challenges, coordinating the Cisterns Program with other social and productive inclusion programs remains limited, despite the ambition to strengthen cross-sectorality, reiterated since the Zero Hunger Program and the launch of the Brazil Without Poverty Plan. Several national-level coordination instruments have been promoted, but their results remain incipient or ineffective.

This study contributed to this debate by discussing the role of municipal and rural extension agents in the often-informal process of linking programs and actors at the local level. Many of these actors defined the participation of rural families in the Cisterns Program as an informal requirement for participation in
other strategies for technical assistance, development, public procurement, and credit. While such an approach can help leverage the program's impacts, it also risks concentrating benefits and excluding non-participants from the rural development process based on subjective criteria.

In this context, the concept of street-level bureaucrats is useful to analyze the results of implementing cross-sectoral strategies. While most studies show the contributions of this concept in evaluating public policies on an individual basis, this study emphasizes the less addressed aspect of its contribution to analyzing the coordination between programs during the implementation process. The influence of the bureaucrats on the political process and choice of beneficiaries was discussed in certain discretionary cases. Moreover, combining the institutional-administrative dimensions of the integration process of public policies with the mechanisms of decision-making on their implementation was possible. The horizontal or vertical integration of public policies requires a constant learning exercise.

Therefore, the level of influence and the perception of local actors on operational decisions should be considered in the design, analysis, and management of social policies. Further, a rural poverty reduction strategy on strengthening local coordination spaces, sustained by a rights-based approach, can curb the risks of discretionary exclusion of beneficiaries. Therefore, in a climate change scenario, with an expected increase in periods of water shortage in the Brazilian semi-arid region, and especially given the recent budget cuts in social programs, attention should be increasingly focused on inclusive strategies with the potential for complementarity, which ensure a greater impact in the long term.

## Acknowledgments

This work is part of the research activities of Rede CLIMA (Regional Development sub-network) and INCT/Odisseia (Observatory of socio-environmental dynamics: sustainability and adaptation to climate, environmental, and demographic changes) under the National Institutes of Science and Technology Program (Call INCT – MCTI/CNPq/CAPES/FAPs n.16/2014). This work was funded by Capes (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel), CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development), FAP-DF (Research Support Foundation of the Federal District), and the former Ministry of Social Development (MDS), which was a partner during data collection. Special thanks to the rural extension technicians and Cisterns executing agencies for the time spent during the interviews and field monitoring.
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CHAPTER 7

Cross-views at the relationship
between gender, water security, and
adaptation: the case of cisterns for
rainwater harvesting in the semi-arid
regions of Paraiba and Pernambuco1

Daniela Nogueira, Carlos Hiroo Saito

Introduction

Brazil is privileged with large water resources. However, water availability in the national territory is not uniform, and water distribution presents contrasts and asymmetries. The supply of treated water is even more unequal, even within regions and the same city, whose aspects are associated with the national development process and the resulting social and regional inequalities.

According to Rebouças (2001), the quantity of water per inhabitant in the Brazilian average places the country in a comfortable situation between 10 thousand and 100 thousand m3/year/inhabitant, while the Northeast Region of the country would have between 1,000 and 2,000 m3/year/inhabitant, classified as regular.

The Northeast Region covers an area of 1,561,177 km2, of which 1,127,953 km2 make up the so-called Brazilian semi-arid region. This region is historically marked by the occurrence of droughts which, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2014), may intensify in the coming years, further aggravating its socio-environmental impacts.

<footnote n="1">1 This chapter mobilizes results from the ARTIMIX (Articulating policy mixes across scales & sectors to address adaptation to climate change challenges in vulnerable tropical agricultural landscapes - ANR-17-CE03-0005), TYPOCLIM (Typology and assessment of policy instruments to promote agricultural adaptation to climate change -MUSE-ANR-16 IDEX- 0006) and INCT Odisseia (Observatory of socio-environmental dynamics - CNPq) projects.</footnote>
This diagnosis delineates a scenario of water insecurity for family farming verified by Nasuti et al. (2016), given that many producers plant their crops only in rainfed areas, depending entirely on rainwater for their production.

Insecurity in subsistence food production also reminds us about the water insecurity in daily consumption for housekeeping in the semi-arid region, resulting in the search for access to water at greater distances. This fact is aggravated by the low potability conditions of water used for domestic consumption, increasing the waterborne diseases among children and family members (NOGUEIRA, 2009).

Many transformations have occurred in recent decades in the region, given a more inclusive development project, with initiatives such as Fome Zero and Plano Brasil sem Miséria (Water for All - P1MC and P1+2 -, Light for All). Even so, much improvement to the living conditions of women and girls is needed, highlighting the existence of a previously recognized interrelationship between poverty, income inequalities, gender, and access to basic services (BRASIL, 2011).

Thus, incorporating a gender perspective in formulating and implementing more sustainable water policies emerges as a key political strategy for reducing vulnerability and regional development (BISILLIAT; VERSCHUUR, 2007). This relationship had already been identified in 1992 at the Dublin Conference in Ireland, recognizing that women are central to the provision, management, and protection of water in the third principle in the final document of the conference (The Dublin Statement on Water and Sustainable Development).

Thus, to analyze the incorporation of a gender perspective in the formulation and implementation of more sustainable water policies for the Brazilian semi-arid region, this chapter reflects on the contribution of the One Million Cisterns Program (P1MC) as an adaptation strategy to reduce the impact of drought on rural family lives in the Brazilian semi-arid region, particularly women.

This focus is justified by the water insecurity of families who did not have access to water until rainwater harvesting tanks were obtained and the fact that this adaptive program has prioritized families headed by women since its inception.

Hence, this study presents a cross-analysis from the gender, water security, and climate emergency adaptation perspectives of P1MC formulation and implementation to analyze the main program impacts on reducing the vulnerability of women beneficiaries and their families to climate change, fulfilling the goals and targets in the 2030 Agenda.
Public policies and access to water in rural
communities of the Brazilian semi-arid region

In the semi-arid region, the history of access to and the use of water is in the various conceptions of development adopted in the formulation of regional public policies and the cycles of economic development that marked the region (OLIVEIRA, 2014/2015).

According to Nogueira (2017), the economic development strategy based on aspects of the region's economic structure produced only proposals inspired by external solutions disconnected from more rooted actions and can generate autonomy. Thus, the initiatives could not represent transformative actions of the social and economic structure. These past strategies continued to be present in the Federal Government's responses to the 1998-1999 drought, marked by the complementarity between traditional actions for water, food, and income distribution, and other initiatives to transform existing material conditions, such as literacy and training programs for young people and adults. The responses to the drought also included creating a special line of credit by Banco do Nordeste for rural producers in areas affected by the disaster. However, these actions remained limited to the perspective of emergency measures, and rural credit for providing water infrastructure only privileged large and medium-sized landowners (NOGUEIRA, 2017). Recognizing limited results of policies to combat drought in improving the living conditions of the population boosted the emergence and action of new actors in the search for alternatives toward sustainable development in the semi-arid region.

The emergence of these new actors provoked ruptures by including strate-
gies for local economic restructuring in formulating development policies for the
region. However, a closer look shows that the initiatives are limited in reducing
existing inequalities among and within different social groups.

According to Nasuti et al. (2016), some of the initiatives can be classified as “support policies,” such as the National Program for Strengthening Family Farming (PRONAF), rural extension, the Food Acquisition Program (PAA), and the National School Feeding Program (PNAE). These support programs help adapt farmers to production conditions without directly implying a change in the production structure. Other initiatives, such as social security programs, promoted government cash transfers and social security, ensuring a constant income flow, regardless of production results, to favor the financial adaptive capacity of the producer. Notably, the initiatives classified as structural policies (P1MC, P1+2, Sisar and Luz para Todos) physically modify systems to promote definitive transformations in the adaptive capacity of family production.
Although the actions of these structuring programs are essential for family farmers to live in the semi-arid region, they are insufficient (Nasuti et al., 2016).

Rainwater harvesting as an adaptive strategy

If the historical context reinforced links with mechanisms of reproduction of existing inequalities in the region, historical changes since the re-democratization of the country and strengthening of social mobilizations have allowed for greater protagonism by new social actors. Thus, in 1999, during the Third Conference of the Parties of the United Nations on Combating Desertification and Mitigating the Effects of Drought (COP 3) in Recife, Pernambuco, the Declaration of the Semi-arid emerged on the political scene, produced by representatives of rural workers' unions, social movements, religious organizations, and NGOs. This declaration promoted its central vision that adapting to the physiographic conditions of the Brazilian semi-arid region is possible (SILVA, 2014). Cognition of the semi-arid region in public policies underwent a perspective change from “combating droughts” to “coexistence with the semi-arid region.”

The coexistence perspective requires strategies focused on the sustainable management of disaster risks, thus demanding more integrated planning and mitigation actions in the environmental and socioeconomic spheres. These represent a replacement of emergency strategies guided by decisions characterized by momentary and assistentialist reactions to drought and its impacts (ANDRADE et al., 2015).

A premise of the perspective of “coexistence with the semi-arid” is to ensure access to water autonomously, ensuring water and food security. These conditions can ensure people’s permanence in the region, given that a family life project in which the semi-arid and the relationship of families with the semi-arid are valued.

Hence, to facilitate access to water, especially in rural areas, policymakers define rainwater harvesting as a privileged action precisely because it guarantees water for domestic consumption and, consequently, family water autonomy. Rainwater harvesting is an old practice adopted as an alternative adaptation in various world regions where the minimum conditions to ensure the human right to water do not yet exist (ROSADO; MORAIS, 2010). In the Brazilian semi-arid region, rainwater harvesting for water security focused on domestic consumption, implemented through the One Million Rural Cisterns Program (P1MC). This program has stood out given its methodological design, social and geographical scale, capillarity degree, complexity, and, consequently, transformation potential, with great acceptance by the rural population of the Brazilian semi-arid region and various civil society organizations (GANDURE; WALKER; BOTHA, 2013).
It comprises an integrated program of training, education, and people and institution mobilization coordinated by the Articulação do Semiárido (ASA). This program goes beyond the cistern as a technological artifact for water storage, thus triggering a movement for a sustainable coexistence with the semi-arid region. Its pillar is the strengthening of civil society in cistern constructions. According to data from the Ministry of Social Development (now the Ministry of Citizenship), 1,257,670 cisterns had been built by 2017, giving an average of 3.5 million people access to water for domestic consumption (NOGUEIRA et al., 2020).

Among the main advantages of this infrastructure are the water quality, proximity to homes (Figure 2), and low cost. However, the possibility of water contamination, given the lack of care during collection and the appearance of cracks if the cistern is not built and maintained correctly, is notable. Furthermore, it is important to recognize the possibility of the cisterns becoming unsustainable during prolonged droughts or in places where the volume of rainfall is so low that the cistern cannot be filled considering the average surface area of the roofs.

Notably, cisterns must be used exclusively for human consumption since residential cisterns are insufficient to meet other water needs during dry periods. Cisterns represent an alternative to the high cost of water trucks and the lack of quality assurance of water from other sources of supply or even water trucks (ANDRADE et al., 2015; NÓBREGA et al., 2013).

## Methods

The analysis of incorporating a gender perspective in formulating and implementing the P1MC and its main impacts requires a look at the local scale, where the voice of families benefiting from the P1MC program can emerge. Thus, we present a case study anchored in a set of 50 interviews guided by a semi-structured script, conducted between July 2007 and September 2008. Among the interviewees were trainers and managers of the policy (23) and women contemplated by the policy (27). The beneficiary families of 15 of the latter interviewees also participated.

The interviewees were in four groups: i) Group 1 (G1) - Formulators and Managers External to the Program; ii) Group 2 (G2) - Formulators and Managers Internal to the Program; iii) Group 3 (G3) - Benefiting Women; and iv) Group 4 (G4) - Benefiting Families, as per Nogueira (2017).

Each identified group represented a specific system function, whether linked to its formulation and implementation or as program beneficiaries. Thus, each represented different practices and discourses, presenting the diversity and complexity necessary for the investigation. Notably, considering the specificities of practices and discourses, the use of two differentiated interview scripts appeared
as a methodological requirement. G1 comprises people or organizations close to or connected with implementing the P1MC and cisterns at the site as external actors; they may be the federal government or NGO representatives. Since they are not directly linked to the organizational structure of the ASA-P1MC, these actors relate to the program's proximity and relative distance, such as the Secretariat of Water Resources and Urban Environment (SRHU) of the Ministry of the Environment (MMA) and the National Secretariat for Food Security and Nutrition (Sesan) of the Ministry of Social Development (MDS), which was extinguished by the Law 13,844, as of 18 June 2019. Its functions were assigned to the Ministry of Citizenship, in addition to Oxfam and the Esquel Foundation.

G2 comprises individuals or organizations directly linked to ASA-P1MC. They are among the staff of partner organizations or representatives in various existing bodies as members or employees. Thus, these actors speak as ASA-P1MC, keeping an organic relationship with the program. This situation includes members of Caritas or even any of the Rural Workers' Unions involved.

The G1 and G2 interviews employed a script comprising five questions to uncover the process of formulating and implementing the P1MC, including its methodological design and more concrete results.

G3 and G4 are the target group of the policy, its direct beneficiaries. G3 comprises women, beneficiaries per the testimonies of informants located in the various groups. They are also the protagonists of this analysis, given that the P1MC was designed to be implemented through the women of the families. G4 comprises families of informants that make up G3. The interview script for G3 and G4 was based on eight questions, organized according to thematic blocks on socioeconomic profile, mode of access to water, time spent fetching water before and after the program, and changes in the quality of life of P1MC beneficiaries.

The definition of the territorial sample cut-off was based on the information collected from the first interviews conducted in Brasília and Recife with internal and external managers (G1 and G2) of the P1MC. Thus, the territorial cut-off that led to the local analysis defined the target locations of the interviews for G3 and G4 as follows: Sítios Minador and Colônia, near the municipalities of Jupi and São Bento do Una, in the rural zone of Pernambuco, and the Sítios Lagoa do Gravatá, Campinoti de Baixo, Alvinho, Torre and Cafula, in the proximities of Lagoa Seca and Massaranduba, rural area of Paraíba. After presenting the study purpose and question scripts and the subsequent obtention of informed consent by the interviewees, the interviews based on semi-structured scripts were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed via content analysis (BARDIN, 1977).
# The One Million Rural Cisterns Program and the institutionalization of the gender perspective

From the interviews, it was possible to uncover the process and confirm the incorporation of the gender perspective in the program's formulation and implementation, based on a methodology to obtain infrastructure given to families headed by women.

G1 respondents were the main providers of information on the P1MC target audience and adopting a gender perspective as a pillar of the program's institutional design. From the interviewees, the program targets families living in rural areas of municipalities in the Brazilian semi-arid region with no source of nearby drinking water or with precarious existing sources. From the survey, families were selected based on the following criteria: 1) families headed by women, 2) families with children aged 0 to 6 years, 3) families with children or adolescents attending school; 4) families with adults aged 65 or over, and 5) families with physically or mentally disabled people. The criteria enable us to think about the interface between Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 6, with the additional linkage with SDG 4 (Education) of the 2030 agenda, expanding the interdependencies among the SDGs provided by this program.

According to interviewed policymakers and managers, the definition of the program's criteria for benefiting families under the P1MC considered evidence of the role of women in any development process in the semi-arid region and the "empirical reality" that water supply policies in rural areas would "naturally" benefit women, the Wallace and Coles (2005) notion about water being a gender issue in any society.

It recognizes the vulnerability of many families comprising women migrating husbands, causing them to remain in the countryside and take responsibility for the family's survival. Regionally, women in this condition are known as "drought widows" (BRANCO, 2000).

Another aspect that emerged because of the interviews in Group 1 is the perception on the part of policymakers and managers that, because women occupy a central place in household water management, they value the cistern more highly. According to the program formulators, the focus on women is also strategic to the durability of the program's effects, thus reducing the possibility of land being sold because of the value added by the improved access to water.

However, the participation of women is not specifically required in the design of the program, despite being originally in the emergence of the gender issue in the P1MC implementation strategy. However, the fact that the program's tie-breaker criterion is the selection of female-headed households, together with the requirement for the head of household to participate in community meetings
and training courses, induces a potential increase in the demand for women's participation in community affairs, strengthening the achievement of the goals of SDG 10 (Reduction of Inequalities) by 5 (Gender Equality).

Although the theme of gender inclusion has been present in the political debate since the 1990s, it was only at the VI Enconasa, in 2006, that the gender issue was formalized and materialized in concrete proposals for affirmative actions that became part of ASA's social organization methodology. The event represents a turning point in systematic gender inclusion issues in ASA and, consequently, the P1MC.

The fact that the P1MC requires the participation of the person in charge of a household in community meetings and training courses enables the methodology of social organization that guides this program to articulate social transformations based on the dialogue between the public and private spheres of families. Moreover, since the P1MC knows that the families headed by women are priority criteria for winning a cistern, this fact can be a catalyst for women's participation in community affairs. This potential catalyst can be exemplified by the emergence of women cistern builders (MORAES; ROCHA, 2013), highlighting an innovative connection with SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth.

Hence, it is possible to group actions into different categories per their respective formal properties, dynamics, and impacts on gender relations: institutional gender, autonomy-generating, and empowerment actions.

Institutional gender actions refer to creating political and administrative strategies to incorporate gender equity within the organizational structure of ASA-P1MC, acting transversally in production-reproduction and public-private domains. These institutional strategies include the creation of the Gender Commission and guaranteeing budget resources.

Autonomy-generating actions transform production-reproduction relations to meet practical needs from gender inequalities. Its impact predominantly focuses on income generation, appreciating women's productive capacity, and increased self-esteem, exemplified by the denaturalization of existing sexual divisions of labor. Thus, it affirms the relationship of the sexual division of labor with the material basis of gender inequalities and appreciates productive and commercialization actions of women in the semi-arid region.

Finally, empowerment actions regard redesigning power relations, ensuring women's participation in various decision instances to advance the decisions via collaboration. They are strategic and transformative actions, whose impact predominantly regards women's information and training access, with the underlying assumption that women's participation qualifies them, providing positive feedback for formulating programs focused on women, their children, and
families, based on their experiences. The P1MC actions with an empowerment profile correspond to gender parity in decision-making bodies and strengthening women's self-organization within such bodies. This action group strengthens the connection with SDG 10 to reduce inequalities.

However, these groupings or typologies of actions should be analyzed as a whole, especially in their interconnections and interdependencies: the articulation of the institutional gender actions with autonomy-generating and empowerment actions should be analyzed in light of how the gender perspective has been incorporated into the P1MC implementation. In general, the main thread of the P1MC policy implementation with a "gender perspective" is built from the family sphere together with husbands, daughters, and sons. Moreover, more sophisticated strategies are added to these actions by which political organization and production are closely parallel (Nogueira, 2017).

This typology of actions makes it possible to analyze their predominance, crucial for understanding the impact of the P1MC on the adaptive capacity of women and their families in the context of vulnerability to prolonged droughts as an expression of climate emergencies.

As per the IPCC (2014), vulnerability to climate change is the propensity of a system (population or territory) to suffer damage; it can be analyzed per three components: i. exposure, referring to the nature and intensity of the environmental (biophysical and climatic) or socio-political stress experienced by a system; ii. sensitivity, corresponding to the intensity with which a system can suffer damage or be affected by perturbations, being determined by the intrinsic susceptibilities of the system; and iii. adaptive capacity, referring to the ability of a system to introduce changes to accommodate environmental stresses or political changes and manage consequences in the best possible way. Thus, considering vulnerability from a gender perspective, exposing female-headed households to long periods of drought induces more sensitivity and vulnerability (IPCC, 2014), requiring gender-specific actions on coping-capacity responses.

## The impact of the P1MC and gender vulnerabilities

The socioeconomic profile of the interviewed families shows the percentage of females (50.7%), those under 25 years (44.1%), and those with incomplete basic education (25.6%). The illiteracy rate among the heads of household (66.6%) and the proportion of families in miserable conditions (94.4%) was higher than the national average, as per Bolsa Família Program criteria: monthly per capita income below US$ 45.
None of the visited households had access to treated water distribution as expected, considering that this is a condition for a family to benefit from the program. Only one household lacked a cistern to capture rainwater.

Among the interviewees, 86.7% indicated that a female (housewife, daughter, and granddaughter) was responsible for fetching water for domestic use. The average time spent to fetch water from the nearest source and return home was two hours per day (Table 1).

Thus, given that those conducting such work are mostly women, gender inequalities take on even clearer features. Moreover, as the women involved in the search for water include young people and children (daughters and granddaughters), the time spent on this work takes them away from the school and the time dedicated to studies, making the connection with SDG 4 even more relevant.

<table><caption>Table 1. Time spent to fetch water from the nearest source.</caption><thead><tr><td>Time</td><td>Observations</td><td>Percentage (%)</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Up to 1.5 hours</td><td>7</td><td>25.9</td></tr><tr><td>2 hours</td><td>14</td><td>51.8</td></tr><tr><td>3 hours</td><td>1</td><td>3.7</td></tr><tr><td>Between 4 and 5 hours Total</td><td>5</td><td>18.5</td></tr><tr><td>Total</td><td>27</td><td>100</td></tr></tbody></table>

Source: Nogueira, 2017.

The interviews conducted with the families and women of the beneficiary household show the importance of the notion of time associated with access to water in their lives: the past-present distinction is marked by the material existence of the cistern, enabling them to have access to water. This conclusion hinges on answers provided to questions in the thematic blocks regarding access to water, time spent fetching water before and after the program, and changes in the quality of life of beneficiaries (Table 2). Notably, the existence of the cistern is a time marker in the discourse of all 27 interviewees.

Considering the cyclical temporal structure of productive activities in the semi-arid region and the conditions of production of this social space, linked to a meteorological and climatic calendar (NASUTI et al., 2013), water, for its presence and scarcity, is like a time marker and calendar, thereby organizing the daily life and memory of the population.

Hence, the metaphors used to characterize the lived and perceived time before and after the cistern reveal an association with the continuity of the relief or rest from water near the house. Meanwhile, one can recognize elements of discontinuity of this new situation or feeling, expressed as insufficient or even
non-existent water to fill the cistern. That is, the continuity of access to the water by the cistern, even if it is interrupted, reveals an appreciation of continuity over discontinuity, given that the interruption can be resumed when the cistern is filled up by water trucks from the most diverse sources. Further, although dependence on water trucks and the political power associated with this dependence continues, the population sees the arrival of the cisterns as a process of rupture relative to the prior way of life. The filling of the cistern by water trucks whose water collection does not obey any control or supervision can notably induce health problems for family members, creating additional work for women.

However, cisterns have induced a major change in the way of life of women and their families. It is an infrastructure that considerably reduces daily work, as water becomes something visible and close by, and the time spent is much less: cisterns around the house have granted women greater autonomy over their time; they no longer have to walk long distances. Moreover, the improved health of the family, especially children, was highlighted because of the access to better quality water.

Data obtained in interviews with women beneficiaries coincide with information raised by the evaluation of the Court of Audit of the Union (TCU) (BRA-SIL, 2007c) on the qualitative impacts of the P1MC: transformations of practical order in daily life understood as more health (49.70%), money (18.60%), and time (53.10%).

<table><caption>Table 2. Women's lives before and after cisterns.</caption><thead><tr><td>Informant</td><td>Profession</td><td>Before the Cistern</td><td>After the Cistern</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>EBL</td><td>Quarry</td><td>"Hail Mary, I do not even [want] to remember".</td><td>"For me, it was a renewal."</td></tr><tr><td>AQ MESN</td><td>Health Agent Housewife</td><td>"We used to get water from the rest of the cattle's drink"; "I had to buy."</td><td>"The agony of water is over"; "When there's no water, the Army fills the cistern."</td></tr><tr><td>EFS</td><td>Agriculture</td><td>"I used to buy; I ordered a water truck from city hall; it never came; it's been two years."</td><td>"I'm very pleased; my water stays there, covered."</td></tr><tr><td>CAF</td><td>Housewife</td><td>"I did not attend the meetings."</td><td>"I go to all the meetings, and I intend to keep going. You learn things; you get to know the stories."</td></tr><tr><td>SFO</td><td>Housewife</td><td>"I was so tired of going uphill, but I was ashamed to ask for a bucket."</td><td>"It is a rest; it is my retirement."</td></tr><tr><td>SALT</td><td>Farmer</td><td>"We used to put water on the donkey."</td><td>"The boys have stopped having health problems more."</td></tr></tbody></table>

Source: Nogueira, 2017.
The use of rainwater made via the One Million Rural Cisterns Program (P1MC) is framed as a climate change adaptation strategy for semi-arid regions. It is an important resource for achieving water security and the Human Right to Water, associated with SDG 13.

The realization of this right is based on sustainable access to water in quantity, quality, and regularity to meet basic needs, ensuring the minimum conditions for the supply of the population (KAHINDA; TAIGBENU; BOROTO, 2010; SAITO, 2018).

Regarding the impact on daily life, the issue of access to education is recurrent in the discourse of the family beneficiaries of the program. With water closer to home, women and children can attend school more regularly, and mothers can monitor their children's studies more closely, converging with SDG 4. Thus, girls of different ages are notably the first to leave school during periods of drought (Nogueira, 2009).

The findings draw attention to the fact that the P1MC acts directly on a historical situation of greater asymmetry of the domestic work sexual division from the challenge of access to water. This challenge and need to search for water prevented many from attending school (BRASIL, 2011).

Regarding the impact of the program's implementation, its effect on changes in the social status of women should also be highlighted. By prioritizing families headed by women (SUÁREZ; TEIXEIRA, 2012), the program reaffirms the recognition of the importance of their work and knowledge regarding water management, removing them from the social invisibility in which they find themselves via new productive skill achievement (MORAES; ROCHA, 2013). It also establishes the connection between the P1MC and SDG 8.

Further, two aspects emerging from the P1MC that go beyond the planned objectives are notable: the first aspect is the possibility (from access to water) for women to have small productions, whether of animals, vegetables, or fruit. These activities allow them to enter a new cycle of integration into the formal economy (SDG 8) and social life, reducing poverty rates (SDG 1) and, consequently, gender inequalities (SDG 10, SDG 5). Regarding the second aspect, given the first, these new activities allow women to participate in the family income, changing the power relations in the domestic space (SDG 5 and SDG 10). Their partners and family view them as productive and capable based on different materials and symbolic logic (NOGUEIRA, 2013).

It is important to highlight that men and women have different patterns of access to financial sources, and these challenges are even greater in periods of drought when access to available sources becomes even more restricted (UNSRID, 2016; NOGUEIRA, 2009).
These two aspects are worth highlighting given that the Brazilian semi-arid region, despite its great environmental and human diversity, has historically evidenced the deepening of different dimensions of gender vulnerabilities from long periods of drought. Thus, access to water through small-scale water infrastructure at the doorstep of households changes a vicious (often violent) cycle in the region's history, aligning directly with SDG 10, reduction of inequalities.

The use of cisterns to collect rainwater is not new to the region. However, it has been improved to change the focus of policies and the population perception from fighting the drought to coexistence with the semi-arid region. The technology has become more complex in its use as a vehicle for social organization (NOGUEIRA, 2009). Its societal rooting was noted by Saito (2006) when analyzing its presence in the popular Cordel literature of the region.

Among the dimensions of daily life linked to gender and directly associated with vulnerability during periods of drought, the relationship between food security and water security should be highlighted, considering the number of daily meals and the amount of water available for human consumption, animal watering, and small crops as variables, justifying the interdependencies with SDG 2. Regarding cultural and eating habits, it is common for women to skip meals to ensure food for their children. This fact, noted only via careful observation of daily family life or an interview (in this study), indicates the existence of gender vulnerability that makes women more susceptible to malnutrition in adulthood, thus reinforcing the need to review the common sense that malnutrition does not exist in rural areas, as warned by Graebner (2007) in a study on the Brazilian Cerrado applicable to Caatinga.

Another dimension to consider on gender vulnerability regards health standards: the increase in the number of diseases, problems during pregnancy and postpartum, and infant mortality rates (GRIGOLETTO et al., 2014). This dimension directly highlights SDG 3.

A third gender dimension of vulnerability is the workload on women, which in normal periods is greater than that of men when considering paid and unpaid work. These differences become even greater during periods of drought when the time dedicated by men to productive agricultural and ranching activities decreases but does not generate any compensation in domestic relations. However, considering the domestic division of labor and women's responsibility to fetch water, during periods of drought, the hours dedicated by women to fetch the water necessary for the family's minimum consumption increases because the amount of water needed increases during this period, as does the distance to the nearest sources because the prior sources often lost water. Another aspect of this
dimension is the increased demand for care by the family as the number of sick people increases. This situation highlights SDG 10.

Finally, the P1MC showed the potential of the SDGs and how the gender perspective associated with the struggle for access to water highlighted the inter-dependence among the SDGs. Similarly, this integrated analysis reinforces the importance of water security and the human right to water, which justifies the centrality and primacy of the water issue on the international agenda, as Saito (2017) highlighted.

## Final considerations

A community's vulnerability to climate emergencies, such as prolonged and worsening droughts, can be strongly impacted and positively reduced by community or government programs.

The impact of the P1MC and the presence of the cistern should be analyzed based on the material and symbolic transformations it brings. The arrival of cisterns goes beyond their existence as water infrastructure, as they represent an instrument for transforming the structures of social reproduction and should be analyzed from its dual aspect: water infrastructure that allows for decentralized access to water and a social strategy based on which issues such as rights, sexual division of labor, and women's empowerment are articulated.

Regarding cisterns, despite its benefits, it is not a sufficient condition to guarantee water access because there may not always be enough water to fill it, considering the location of the cistern, its volume, variations in the rainfall regime of the different micro-regions that make up the semi-arid region, and the number of beneficiary family members. The use of the cistern as a reservoir to store water from sources other than rainwater while disallowing a break in the power structure of the distribution of water by water trucks or even a change in the level of risk regarding the quality of the water represents gains for women. The shortcomings of this initiative should be considered against the big picture of the program's transformative potential.

A central aspect of the advent of the P1MC in the historical and political context of the region refers to the paradigm shift from combating drought to coexistence with the semi-arid region in public policy formulation and implementation, allowing for the consideration of issues related to water security and adaptive capacity to climate emergencies, in addition to circumscribing public policies to comply with the SDGs. Regarding the SDGs, this study has shown how the P1MC can articulate different SDGs synergistically to simultaneously achieve their objectives and targets. Thus, P1MC is vital to achieving the articulated goals and targets of SDG 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 13. Domestically, among the
material and symbolic contributions from cisterns and their consequent impact on women's lives, time-saving stands out: time gain is progressive for women conducting activities, granting them greater autonomy over time management, with repercussions on issues such as food, household economy, health, and education. These situations confirm the importance of P1MC to reinforce the interdependencies among the SDGs.

The experience of the P1MC shows that public policies to reduce family vulnerability in the Brazilian North-East semi-arid must incorporate the gender perspective, recognizing its central role in the family organization and development of adaptive capacities.

Given that the results are based on interviews conducted in communities located in only two municipalities in Paraíba and Pernambuco, they are not readily generalizable and cannot be considered to portray the program implementation in these states or the P1MC as a whole. However, this study could indicate elements of analysis that can be considered in the program evaluation, especially linking it to the more recent context of the SDGs.

## Acknowledgments

This work was developed within the framework of the INCT/Odisseia-Observatory Project of socio-environmental dynamics: sustainability and adaptation to climate and environmental and demographic changes (INCT call - MCTI/CNPq/CAPES/ FAPs n.16/2014), with financial support from CAPES, CNPq, and FAP-DF.

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Challenges of constructing and
implementing the Agroecology
and Organic Production Policy
in the State of Sergipe

Flaviane Canavesi, Edson Diogo Tavares, Mário Lúcio Ávila

The agroecological movement in Sergipe, organized as a multi-institutional network such as the Sergipean Agroecology Network (RESEA), promotes transition in agriculture, thereby discussing, systematizing, and applying principles and practices of living with the semi-arid.

Farmers experience recognition or agroecological transition based on inclu-
sion and social justice with sustainable management of nature, especially soil,
water, and agrobiodiversity. Examples of socio-technical networks can be observed
in the experience of Embrapa Tabuleiros Costeiros, Emdagro (Sergipe Agricul-
tural Development Company), and the Articulation of the Brazilian Semi-arid
(ASA) in the semi-arid region of Sergipe in Alto Sertão, with agroecology as a
paradigm in the development of techniques, management, and coexistence with
the semi-arid region (OLIVEIRA et al., 2017).

Thus, to expand in production scale, commercialization, and political artic-
ulation to strengthen the agroecological transition processes, it was necessary to
build a political agenda such as that created by the State Policy of Agroecology
and Organic Production (PEAPO) in 2011.

Thus, this chapter presents the agroecology policy agenda that has formed at the subnational level in the state of Sergipe, presenting historical-political context, coalitions, and dynamics of public action in the institutionalization of the State Policy of Agroecology and Organic Production (PEAPO) and the unfolding of this policy in the State Plan for Agroecology and Organic Production (PLEAPO).

Hence, public action is characterized by a gradual, ascending process of
achievements in the legal framework, though originating from the civil society
coordinated by the Sergipan Agroecology Network between 2011 and 2021.
The analyses capture the representation and understanding of public policy
instruments, given that the instruments are not neutral and reveal historical sin-
gularities in the structuring relations between rulers and the ruled (Lascoumes &
Le Galès, 2012).

The study gathers the main observations of the process of articulation and
social mobilization around the agroecology agenda in the state, portraying the
prospects in the current context, considering the effectiveness of the execution
of PEAPO in the face of retractions in federal public policies in the most recent
period of executing the agenda.

This study employs a bibliographic and documentary survey and conducts
10 semi-structured interviews with key informants in November 2018 in the
Aracaju and São Cristóvão municipalities. The interviews were conducted per
the Terms of Free and Informed Consent (TCLE). The script was applied within
collective groups, social movements, socio-technical networks, councils, research
and educational institutions, and government bodies, covering many perceptions
and the history of action in implementing the State Policy on Agroecology and
Organic Production.

Some data were updated in January 2021 in semi-structured interviews with
key informants to analyze the policy developments after the installation of the
management council and the prioritization of actions in an executable Plan. An
earlier version of this study was published in GUÉNEAU et al. (2019) and SAB-
OURIN et al. (2019).

We structured the chapter focusing on the procedures through which the
legal framework, the agroecology policy agenda, and the networks and public
action were formulated. It was possible to perceive the protagonism of the orga-
nizations articulated in a network, RESEA, in the negotiations and elaboration of
public policies for agroecology and organic production and the challenges con-
tinually posed in the formation of the public policy agenda, still under construc-
tion of actions.

The political agenda of Agroecology in
Sergipe and recent developments

The PEAPO emerged in Sergipe regarding the national level and Decree No.
7,794 of 20 August 2012, which established the National Policy on Agroecology
and Organic Production (PNAPO). The effervescence of discussions in the coun-
try, led by social movements, had representations from Sergipe. This articulation
puts agroecology on the agenda of the State and, consequently, furnishes the
bases for the elaboration process of the State Law Project presented by the then
state representative João Daniel, which became Law 7.270/11, sanctioned by the
then governor Marcelo Déda even before the PNAPO was promulgated at the federal level.

The discussion in social movements about a national policy regarded forwarding a bill at the subnational level in Sergipe and other experiences, such as the experience of the state of Paraná.

It took seven years for the law to be regulated; the experience with the Paraná Decree and discussions around the Law of native seeds (Law No. 8.167 of 12/01/2016) in Sergipe feed propositions and social movements in Sergipe to build an agroecological perspective from practices slowly being institutionalized in a continuous set of actions.

Therefore, an inter-relationship exists between State and society in constructing policies to promote agroecology, whose scenario demarcates the accumulation of actions undertaken by social movements, such as state meetings, caravans, discussion, and presentation of bills such as that on native seeds. The favorable scenario experienced by family farming via public policies, established and strengthened by the federal government between 2003 and 2015, contributed to the accumulation.

Thus, to reinforce the argument that the building process of the PEAPO-SE was mirrored in the national building process of the PNAPO, the mobilizing action organized mainly by the movements that make up the National articulation and Agroecology (ANA) is considered relevant. It demanded the creative process of the III National Meeting of Agroecology (III ENA) held in Juazeiro, Bahia, in 2014.

Farmers have become more visible given the systematization of experiences, and the Agroecological Caravans strengthen the group before this meeting.

The National Agroecology Meetings are considered catalysts of the movement; methodologically, it is not limited to the days it takes place but generates a mobilizing dynamic relevant to the training of actors.

From a legal perspective, the PEAPO was only regulated in 2018, which justified constant mobilizations. An explanation for this lethargy may stem from the territorial influence of national public actions. To date, there has been no evaluation of the national policy; however, the weakening of the national policy has created reactions in the subnational spheres and rekindled the need for state policies.

The PEAPO seems to be more a response to the crisis than concrete motivation expressions to support an agroecological transition. This argument is supported by the fact that there were no significant resources for concrete actions in the 2018 Annual Budget Law (LOA), nor were agreements signed to guarantee programs for the 2019 budget.
In 2020, the theme appeared in Law 8.645 of 8 January 2020, with some goals and actions in the Pluriannual Plan of the State Government (PPA 2020-2023) that reinforce the implementation of initiatives connected with PEAPO and its instruments. Though still timid, the 2020 budget secured R$150,000 for the Support for Organic and Agroecological Agriculture project to serve 60 families in international partnership projects such as Dom Távora, which serves 12,000 families and considers the agroecological approach as a benchmark.

The financial and human resources allocated to technical assistance and rural extension in the state cannot guarantee satisfactory coverage. Of the more than 90 thousand existing agricultural and livestock establishments, 97% are family farms, but only 27% were served by official Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (ATER). In the PPA 2020-2023, the goal of technical assistance is to serve 50 farmers (in the Central Agreste and South-Central territories) for the concession of agroecological or organic production certificates.

Beyond the initiatives, organizational articulation culminated in the choice of Sergipe to host the Brazilian Congress of Agroecology (CBA) in 2019. Parliamentary amendments from the action of parliamentarians and advisors engaged with PEAPO were mobilized and exhausted to enable the main Brazilian Congress in the area, which also relied on other sources of funds.

Thus, the XI Brazilian Congress of Agroecology was held in November 2019 in Sergipe by the Brazilian Association of Agroecology (ABA) and had the local partnership of the Sergipan Agroecology Network. Accordingly, since the end of 2017, various activities have been carried out by RESEA, to mobilize potential organizations, institutions, agroecology clusters, collectives, and individuals in Sergipe and the Northeast Region to participate in the organization of this great event.

The decision to have a popular congress in a public space (on the campus of a public university), involving art, science, culture, and food, demanded meticulous planning and articulating various organizations and collectives strengthened in this process.

Meetings and seminars were held, and a decision effectively mobilized the agroecological family farmers of Sergipe; the food served during the four days of the Congress was produced by the same farmers (16,000 meals were provided: breakfast, lunch, and dinner). Thus, it was necessary to match what would be possible to produce with the demand for a varied menu and at the same time typical of a northeastern state.

More than 30 innovations were shared in the Terreiro de Inovações Camponesas, an environment for expressing popular knowledge central to the construction of agroecology, including technologies for coping with drought and
the processing of agricultural products by farmers from almost all states of the Brazilian semi-arid region.

During the XI CBA, popular and scientific knowledge dialogued horizon-
tally to advance the democratization of agrifood systems (TAVARES; DALMORA; GONÇALVES, 2020).

The Sergipean Agroecology Network was challenged and strengthened by congress.

Despite a strong articulation of RESEA, the State Commission for Agro-
ecology and Organic Production (CEAPO), created on December 19, 2018, by
Ordinance 147/2018 of the Secretary of State for Agriculture, Agrarian Develop-
ment, and Fisheries, is structured but without forceful continuity to the mission
of legitimizing a State Plan (PLEAPO) and linkage to the intersectional resources
in the Sergipan state.

The challenges that followed, with the COVID-19 pandemic affecting every-
one, remain. Before this period, social movements made several demands in
forums and events. Consultation workshops established an innovation plan that
was ignored; however, this action enabled the expansion of the public that was
being articulated, such as quilombolas, women, and shellfish gatherers.

In the period preceding the regulation, the Sergipe State Government's Law No. 8,167 of 1/12/2016 was sanctioned, establishing the concept of native seeds and encouraging agrobiodiversity conservation. Farmers baptized creole seeds in Sergipe as “Seeds of Freedom,” a baptism that occurred during the II State Meeting on Agroecology in the municipality of Estância in December 2015. Between the sanction of the Agroecology Law in 2011 and its regulation in 2018, there were important actions around seeds creole seeds. A State Seminar on Legislation of Creole Seeds was held in 2015 with an exchange of experiences at more advanced stages in the Northeast, such as the Alternative Agriculture Project Services Advisory (AS-PTA) in Paraíba and the Cooperative of Smallholder Agricultural Producers of Community Seed Banks (COPPABACS) in Alagoas. A process then began that culminated in Law No. 8,167 of 1/12/2016, which institutes the concept of native seeds and the incentive to conserve agrobiodiversity in the state of Sergipe.

Agroecological caravans began in 2014, prior to the III ENA, and have been
held periodically. These meetings have served to give visibility to agroecology
and motivate farmers to continue with their practices, always working to create
a government agenda.
## The actors: a public action network

This study considers the main network that articulates the promotion of agroecology among social movements, non-governmental organizations, other networks on different scales, associations, cooperatives, and federations in the field of civil society, teaching, research, and extension institutions and executors of certain actions or sectors of the state.

It is important to consider that the Sergipe Agroecology Network stems from the history of the agroecological movement in Sergipe and experiences not previously articulated. A constant methodological process affirms, strengthens, and maintains this network.

RESEA was created in 2006 to strengthen the agroecological dynamics in Sergipe through the participatory construction of knowledge. It articulates 35 municipalities and is organized in working groups, plenary meetings, and an operational nucleus.

As one interviewee explained, “RESEA is a great convergence and construction of affinities, and those who thought they could have a more solid result are interacting in there.”

RESEA emerged from the 1st State Meeting on Agroecology of Sergipe (EEA/SE), which took place on May 19 and 20, 2006, and became a field of articulation in public action in favor of agroecology.

Its official account (facebook.com/redesergipanadeagroecologia) notes that RESEA aims to stimulate the protagonism of the peasants of Sergipe, foment a space for the exchange of agroecological knowledge, give visibility to the traditional peoples of the state, intensify and strengthen the agroecological debate, list the challenges of the peasantry in the state, foment a space for discussion and proposition of solutions to the challenges of the peasantry, stimulate the debate on gender and youth in the countryside, draw a panorama of the state's citizenship territories, and strengthen the Network.

A form of communication and employed methodology strengthens it as a network for negotiation with the State via practice mapping, recognition, and systematization (JARA, 1998). The bottom-up process allows for capillarity in the agendas discussed while the experiences subsidize the priority action fronts. The Network maintains this continuous communication and systematization, moving toward the construction of exchanges of experiences, agroecological carriers, and implementing the Farmer to Farmer (CaC) methodology, as per Holt-Giménez (2008), studied in Sergipe by Fontes et al. (2013), Rabanal (2015), and Siqueira et al. (2014).

The following statement reinforces this role:
Having popular education as its guiding basis, the Network has discussed methodology and actions that strengthen participation. Among the principles that give movement to RESEA, we highlight those of horizon, collective construction, respect for peasant culture, and knowledge that synthesize the vision of its pedagogical responsibility in constructing the processes. (DE OLIVEIRA, 2017, p. 2)

Thus, one public action that strengthened the mobilization processes concerns the performance of networks of technicians in interaction with peasants that resulted in greater involvement in networking.

In 2013, when the principles and activities of the Peasant-to-Peasant Network were incorporated into the Social and Environmental Technical Assistance services in the areas of Agrarian Reform (ATES), significant logistical and professional support was provided, which led to advances in the formation of the Network. The aim was to strengthen the identification, systematization, and exchange of experiences, in addition to the possibility of printing primers and building a Continuing Agroecology Training Program (PFA). (RABANAL, 2015 p. 68)

From the interviews, the effective participation of RESEA representatives in national discussion spaces was mentioned, mainly with the influence of ABA and ANA. Regarding the participation of the organicity of women's movements in RESEA, experiences were articulated, as is the case of the Peasant Women's Movement (MMC) from the Baixo São Francisco territory, the Association of Women Rescuing their History from the municipality of Porto da Folha in the territory of Alto Sertão Sergipano, gender collectives from the Landless Rural Workers Movement and Small Farmers Movement, Rural Women Workers Movement (MMTR) of the Southern Sergipe territory, and systematization of women's knowledge.

Youth participation is achieved via the integration of the diffuse actions of each movement and the participation of the only agricultural family school in the state, the Associação Mantenedora da Escola Família Agrícola de Ladeirinhas (AMEFAL), and a cultural group, the Associação Cultural Raízes Nordestinas (ACRANE). Young people are also present with the participation of undergraduate students from the Agroecology Centers of UFS and IFS.
Processes and instruments: the
articulations of the network

The agroecology network is articulated from the experiences of various actors and gathered social movements, farmers, and researchers in July 2016 to reflect on the strengthening of family farming in its identity and agroecological diversity in Sergipe for the construction of the State Plan for Peasant Agriculture and Agroecology. It was the main force articulated in favor of agroecology as public policy in the state.

A relationship exists between the state agroecological and national move-
ments and regional movements, as is the case of the relationship with the states
of Paraíba (mainly the Polo of Borborema and Alagoas and the Network of
Agroecology Central of the Northeast [RENDA], based in Pernambuco). More-
over, there are reflections of practical experiences on the process of building the
PEAPO, showing that the set of strategies of articulation of different scales has an
importance that falls on the articulated action such that the need for an agroecol-
ogy agenda guides the states.

Thus, RESEA, beyond articulating diverse actors, also articulates scales rang-
ing from local, regional, to national processes.

For territorial articulation, as a mobilization methodology, Agroecological Caravans were held throughout 2014 and 2015 in the Sergipan territories, and the 2014 Caravan was a preparatory process for the III ENA (DE OLIVEIRA, 2017). It was a strategy to promote interaction, fostering learning moments and the protagonism of rural people in the production of healthy food. The peasant experiences are recorded to reflect on the realities, challenges, and potentialities of each place visited. Spaces are created to diagnose reality and construct agroecological knowledge based on peasant knowledge.

This process brings together actors to elaborate the I State Plan for Agro-
ecology and Organic Production (PLEAPO), an instrument from the regulation
of the PEAPO, which is being elaborated by the civil society of Sergipe, involved
in the agroecology discussions to develop specific policies under the institutional
coordination of the Secretary of State for Agriculture, Agrarian Development,
and Fisheries.

After the decree that regulated the PEAPO, the PLEAPO was constructed.
Starting in 2018, 28 organizations representing civil society participated in the
elaboration. The Plan materializes in instruments and measures (credit, technical
assistance, promotion, monitoring, and research) the ideas and proposals in the
policy. It is the executive document of the policy for the period (generally four
years).
Some state institutions were also present. However, there is a strong presence of technicians, researchers, extensionists, and teachers involved with the dynamics of the agroecological movement in Sergipe, whose commitment and protagonism of participation grants them a prospection of demands beyond an institutional representation that should serve for professional performance and institutional guidance in the environments in which they operate. In this category, we can consider the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS), the Sergipe Agricultural Development Company (Emdagro), the Brazilian Agricultural Research Company (Embrapa Tabuleiros Costeiros), and the Federal Institute of Sergipe (IFS).

Currently, PLEAPO actions have gained priority, as indicated in the 2019 document “emerging and priority.”

At the national level, the subnational level also brings together and articulates various policies to promote agroecology in an agenda for discussing I PLEAPO. Notably, each network, movement, or experience in RESEA contributes to executing various I PLANAPO policies.

Articulation of the Brazilian Semiarid (ASA) has a history of elaborating, implementing, and monitoring public policies, such as the One Million Cisterns Program of the former Ministry of Social Development. It was involved in the training and social mobilization program for living with the Semi-Arid: Management of Agrobiodiversity, Semi-Arid Seeds. Some areas implement a unit to recover degraded areas developed with international cooperation.

However, since 2016, there has been a deconstruction of federal policies to support family farming (MATTOS, 2017; SABOURIN et al., 2019) and the emergence of subnational actions in states and municipalities that seek to maintain, replace, or complement initiatives.

In Sergipe, in the 2019 elections, RESEA conducted an activity with candidates for municipal elections to commit them to actions in support of agroecology. This action was carried out in partnership with the National Agroecology Coordination and obtained the commitment of 26 candidates, as per information on the RESEA page.

A survey was also conducted in the municipalities to survey local public policy initiatives. In the survey, nine different types of instruments were found in 16 of 75 municipalities (LONDRES, 2021).

In the area of marketing, the support for municipal fairs is noteworthy. The interviewees identified an advance about institutional market policies, but a previously mentioned observation regards the low access of RESEA's participating groups to PAA and PNAE. The low number of farmers registered as organic products with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply (MAPA) was also noted. This evidence, provided by RESEA members, led to the questioning of
the proper insertion of its farmer base in existing public policies. None of the 16 entities participating in RESEA in 2017 accessed PAA and PNAE, and only two had organic registration. This fact demonstrates the contradiction of the effective mobilization of actors to construct a state policy not expressed in the access to the public policies that make up the I PLANAPO.

As an emergency measure, in 2020, to find a way out of the market for family farming production, specific instruments for institutional purchases were created, limiting state action to an instrument that would respond to the crisis imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The finalization of the Technical, Social, and Environmental Assistance Program (ATES) in 2016 had a strong impact, as per the interviews, bringing innovation via the Peasant-to-Peasant methodology.

An important moment of Resea's interface with public policies was preparing the project for the Public Selection Notice no. 2017/030 - ECOFORTE Networks. The project entitled "Strengthening the Sergipe Network of Agroecology" was not approved. However, according to its creators, it was an experience of much articulation, strengthening the network.

The main movements proposed an integration of actions based on what was already happening at the grassroots level. Thus, the experiences of agroecological rice, the systematization of Embrapa/NEVA experiences, the experience of the Peasant Production Unit (UPC) of the MPA, the MCP with the seed banks, and the networks for the exchange of experiences in the Peasant-to-Peasant methodology were integrated.

The project proposed actions for the following: Network of Guardians of the Seeds of Freedom, processing and marketing creole couscous flour and its derivatives, exchange and systematizing agroecological experiences, processing and marketing agroecological rice and its derivatives, potentializing productive arrangements in the Ladeirinhas Family Agricultural School; minimum processing units of agricultural production, strengthening solidarity marketing networks; developing actions for living with the semi-arid; dissemination of social technologies, Sergipe Agroecological and Cultural Caravan, and the Sergipan Cultural Fair.

The main themes brought up in the PLEAPO discussion thus far identified relate to the following: agroecological production; solidarity transport; commercializing agroecological products; broad supply of inputs and processing; food, genetic, water, energy, and territorial sovereignty; agroecological transition of rice farming in the Baixo São Francisco territory; use and conservation of biodiversity; valorization of socio-biodiversity, especially of mangaba, umbu, and murici;
strengthening agroecological backyards; social technology for peasant farming; and implementation of a Participatory Guarantee System (SPG).

## Mobilizations and ideas around a coalition

The agroecological movement in Sergipe, articulated in RESEA, has as its coalition identity in the opposition to agriculture from the modernization of the Brazilian countryside that today constitutes an almost hegemonic political actor in agro, agribusiness. According to Mendonça (2013), the notion of what we now call agribusiness has organized and instrumentalized a powerful commercial and financial complex that gives it financial and, above all, political importance.

In counter-hegemony, RESEA proposes a process of agroecological transition that distances rural development from frameworks of the hegemonic pattern of agriculture, which, for example, affects the production of criollo corn in the state. According to the data from the interviews with movements and the Federal Institute that monitor seeds, criollo corn seeds are contaminated, given the growing cultivation of transgenic seeds in the state.

This problem is demonstrated by a participatory study on the custodians of native seeds in Sergipe. Dalmora et al. (2018) show the importance of the diagnosis of traditional farmers that preserve native seeds free from adversity such as genetic erosion from agribusiness and note that the advance of this problem in Alto Sertão directly interferes with the agrobiodiversity loss.

The problem of native seed contamination demonstrates how the concept of agroecology involves, considerably, a denunciation of an agricultural model that limits the expansion of experiences and agroecological ideas and risks reproduction strategies, given the genetic erosion identified. Thus, agroecological and how it suffers a limitation by the expression of agribusiness should ideas be understood in public action in Sergipe, which makes the collective subjects stronger in their denunciation and counter-hegemonic action. Therefore, a public reaction to the State's promotion of agribusiness exists when public action in favor of agroecology is built.

The I PLEAPO, debated in 2018 and 2019, works in a coalition between civil society and sectors of the State that promote agroecology and organic production. Thus, it connects different conceptions with common interests and defends a broad vision of the concept of agroecology, considering the environmental, economic, cultural, social, and political dimensions. It considers urban and peri-urban actions and rural ones, with popular participation. It establishes intersectoral fronts between health, education, environment, food, and nutritional security in strategies to create agroecological territories. Although a concept of agroecology can bring together different dimensions, the PLEAPO enacted in 2018
does not demonstrate such a tendency; it is restricted. It approaches the concept
of organic agriculture operated by the Organic Law, Law No. 10.831 of 23rd
December 2003, regulated by Decree No. 6.323/07 that, under the coordination
of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply of the federal government,
keeps the national register of organic producers whose certification is given by the
attendance of normative instructions.

According to Law 7.270/2011, which institutes the PEAPO in Sergipe,
“agroecological production system is considered the proposal of agriculture that
is socially just, economically viable, ecologically sustainable and [and] includes
forms of organic production, biodynamic, or other styles of ecological basis.”
Decree 40.051/2018, in its Art. II, considers an Agroecological Production Sys-
tem to be that which seeks to optimize integration between productive capac-
ity, use, and conservation of biodiversity and other natural resources, ecological
balance, economic efficiency, and social justice, covered (or not) by the control
mechanisms addressed in the Organic Law and its regulations.

The state policy is closer to the PNAPO when it seeks an approach to the theme of organics to gain support and extended legitimacy. Similarly, it avoids confronting historical problems, such as access to land and water and confrontations with pesticides. This strategy was adopted in other states of the federation to reduce resistance in the legislative sphere. The design of the Plan that emerged later retrieves a broader concept of agroecology than that mobilized in the Policy. The perception about the importance of agroecology can be more technicist or socio-technical per the proximity of the processes that occur from RESEA.

[Agroecology] is an important aspect of an agricultural produc-
tion mode; it is a significant demand from society. [Thus,] it is our
duty as an institution to provide resources and strategic direction
to it [and] meet other demands of so-called conventional models.
(Interviewee 4, interview held in November 2018)

One interviewee also emphasized that it is necessary to take action

... seeking input reduction, producer independence, self-suffi-
ciency, [and] maximizing [...] self-sufficiency... In terms of man-
agerial vision, it is necessary to go beyond the exchange of experi-
ences, seeking a more solid performance in [...] generating agro-
ecological technologies for reality. [Beyond] raising awareness or
seeking to disseminate existing [...] rescuing knowledge, it is also
necessary to generate knowledge adapted to local conditions. It is
necessary to generate assets. (Interviewee 4, interview conducted in
November 2018).
Despite the recognition by the research institution, the form of movement of agroecology as a “significant demand of society,” understood as the movements for agroecology, undertake various actions in the state.

There is also a tendency to treat agroecology only as technology, “a mode of agricultural production,” which differs from what has been treated by PLEAPO in a broader context and is closer to the definition of the Law. For researchers involved more directly with actions toward agroecology, there is a broader notion of what can be understood by agroecology, in which greater importance is given to the concept of territory and the distinct dynamics that occur in it:

> There is no need for a concept [of agroecology]; building the concept marks the end for us because reality covers more than we cover in the concept. The concept of agroecology is always under construction; it will never stop being under construction. (Interviewee 3, interview conducted in November 2018)

Demarcating a methodological performance of collective construction of knowledge in Sergipe, the exchange movements start from what farmers participating in the Peasant-to-Peasant Movement conceptualize, conducted from 2013 to 2016 on agroecology. According to Rabanal (2015), when defining the concept of agroecology, the concept collectively constructed in the 1st Exchange of Peasant Experiences of the Peasant-to-Peasant Network was “plant, harvest and eat without harming nature” (RABANAL, 2015, p. 74).

## Final considerations

The agroecological agenda in the political environment of the state of Sergipe is largely being built by mobilizing different individual and collective actors. It has found a favorable environment given the role of RESEA and the different arrangements that constitute a movement firmly anchored in the national strategies of ANA and the support of parliamentarians involved in food security, rural development, technical assistance, and environmental issues.

Agroecology allows for the analysis of a wide range of dimensions of the reality of farming (or farming), largely related to rural development, the production of food without pesticides, urban agriculture, and relations of production, marketing, and consumption. Thus, the debate undertaken by the Sergipe Agroecology Network provides a broad reflection on the reality of rural development in the state of Sergipe.

With the National Agroecology Policy as inspiration, the movement to demand a state agroecology policy and the effective approval demonstrated an
articulation of RESEA based on what had been proposed on a national scale. Hence, advances and setbacks at the national level also influence what occurs at the state level.

The common identity of the agroecological field reflected in the opposition to agribusiness, the common agendas, and the recognition of regional differences also allow for actions to be articulated from a regional perspective, with dialogue with other networks with political action, such as ASA and ANA.

The constitution of RESEA as a network that integrates social movements, workers' organizations, NGOs, public research, and education institutions reveals a dynamic that integrates different actors in the same forum and actions coordinated by the Network. Thus, it constitutes an organizational innovation that can facilitate the implementation of agroecology or related policies, such as the Agrobiodiversity policy (Law No. 8.167 of 1/12/2016), which institutes the concept of creole seeds and the incentive to the conservation of agrobiodiversity in the state of Sergipe.

Finally, a legal framework in the state strengthens agroecological family farming. However, analyzing the Multi-Year Plan (PPA 2020-2023) reveals a derisory amount allocated to family farming and agroecology policies. The analysis of this gap between what policies propose and what managers execute must be addressed such that this significant social segment can participate more effectively in the sustainable rural development of the state.

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<figure><img src="image_21.png" /></figure>
CHAPTER 9

On seeds, land, water, and public
policies: stories, translations, and
practices in the constitution of
Casas de Sementes in Ceará

Helena Rodrigues Lopes, Claudia Job Schmitt

Introduction

"The Bank was never just about seeds" is one of the sayings in the report of the First Meeting of the Ceará Seeds Network, held in the municipality of Madalena, in the sertão<fnref n="1" /> of Quixeramobim, in 1992. Repeated by farmers, technicians, pastoral agents of the Catholic Church, and Rural Workers Union (STTR) representatives, this statement lives on today and refers to the vitality of seeds. This vitality is present in the multiple relationships woven by semi-arid farmers involving seeds, land, water, and public policies and the distinct ways the seed banks (or seed houses)<fnref n="2" /> are organized and interpreted at different historical periods in the collective becoming of these populations.

This chapter treats seed banks as collective dispositives, defined in their
broadest sense as sets of heterogeneous elements (material and symbolic), capa-
ble of articulating and coordinating actors, resources, and practices, mobilizing
different modes of agency (CHOCHOY, 2014). The term device highlights the
mediation role played by certain arrangements (material, technical, and symbolic)
(BEUSCART; PEERBAYE, 2006, p. 9), also referring to how social actors, faced
with problematic situations, organize practices and structure certain sequences
of action through the solidary combination of different elements (DODIER and
BARBOT, 2017).

<footnote n="1">1 In Brazil the word “sertão” refers, generically, to the hinterland or backcountry. In the Brazilian Northeast, the “sertão” corresponds to the dry interior region, covered by Caatinga vegetation.</footnote>

<footnote n="2">2 In Portuguese, Casas de Sementes.</footnote>
In reviewing the history of seed banks in Ceará, with special attention to actions implemented by the Seed Exchange Network (RIS) in the Sobral region, we reflect on the dynamics of nature-society co-production (PLOEG, 2018; TAYLOR, 2015), historically developed by peasant communities in the Brazilian semi-arid region in a struggle not limited to an effort to adapt to climate adversity, waged in a territory marked by “a particularly perverse agrarian structure” (AB’SÁ- BER, 1999, p.7-8).

As we demonstrate throughout the text, the collective seed storage strategies developed by rural communities make it possible to coordinate a wide range of practices that promote diversity of life and habitability of the semi-arid region. Much more than just a physical space where certain genetic materials are selected and stored, the seed houses operate as a nucleus to boost a diversified web of relationships, enhancing the productive use of water and its transformation into biomass and guaranteeing access to locally adapted and “just in time” seeds, thereby expanding and diversifying the supply of food and strengthening social organization processes, the affirmation of rights, and articulation between different public policies.

The reconstruction of the historical trajectory of community practices for the rescue, production, multiplication, storage, and circulation of seeds in the semi-arid region, developed in the context of the RIS, aims to draw attention to the importance of the living collection of experiences of social organization built by rural populations in this territory. Faced with projections that highlight a scenario of “water shortage” (SANTOS et al., 2018), resulting not only from natural, physical, and climatic limitations, but also from the way natural resources have been appropriated and used throughout history in this region, we revisit in this chapter the dynamics of collective action associated to the construction of solutions socially and ecologically rooted in the ways of life of populations of the Brazilian semi-arid. These practices are part of an effort to adapt to a whole set of climatic restrictions generically associated with “drought.” They also reflect an exercise in confronting persistent and lasting inequalities that permeate the relationships established between different social categories among each other and with public authorities. Looking back at these experiences seems even more relevant considering that the semi-arid region has been identified as one of the most vulnerable areas in a scenario of climate change, especially regarding the rise in temperature and the intensification of drought periods (MARENGO et al., 2017).

The geographical area referred to here as the “Sobral region” is located in the Northwestern mesoregion of Ceará. The first records of collective initiatives developed by peasant communities in these municipalities in the structuring of seed banks date back to the 1980s. The dissemination of these practices resulted
in the constitution of the RIS Sobral, which currently integrates 81 Seed Banks with over 2,000 associates, including farmers, quilombolas<fnref n="3" /> and rural workers. The network is also composed of collective organizations such as cooperatives, associations, Rural Workers' Unions (STTRs), and the Diocesan Cáritas of Sobral -an entity forming part of Cáritas Brasileira, affiliated to the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops.

Since 2017, as an offshoot of a consultancy work developed within the scope of the Project Redes de Agroecologia para o Desenvolvimento dos Territórios, coordinated by the Articulação Nacional de Agroecologia (ANA), we have started a dialogue with members of the RIS Sobral (SCHMITT et al., 2020). These interactions unfolded into the development of a study using ethnographic methods, seeking more in-depth knowledge of the network, its history, and configurations and understand the daily practices of farmers associated with the seed houses. This chapter presents preliminary results of the research work developed by the first author in the scope of the Graduate Program in Social Sciences in Development, Agriculture, and Society at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (CPDA/UFRRJ), under the guidance of the second author, focused in the preparation of a doctoral thesis.

Importantly, the exercise of historical reconstitution here presented is not limited to the Sobral region or the experience developed by RIS in its regional context. The network of interdependencies to which the RIS experience is associated reaches different times and spaces, connecting initiatives implemented in different regions of the state of Ceará and organizational processes contextualized in the Brazilian semi-arid at a regional scale.

The discussions presented in the text are based on empirical data produced during different field visits, incorporating results generated through literature review and documentary research with the support, particularly, of the collection of materials made available by the Documentation Center of Esplar Research and Advisory Center. The Esplar is a non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in 1974, based in Fortaleza, and which is currently working on different themes related to coexistence with the semi-arid.<fnref n="4" />

Following the trajectory of collective seed storage in Ceará over time, this chapter articulates three historical plans associated with the structuring of the Casas de Sementes. The first takes us to the hinterlands of Inhamuns and Crateús,

<footnote n="3">³ In Brazil, according to the Decree nº 4887, remnants of quilombo communities are legally considered to be “ethnic-racial groups, according to self-attributed criteria, with their own historic trajectory, and with specific territorial relations. They also carry the presumption of a black ancestry related to resistance to the historic oppression suffered.” Decree n. 4887. Available at: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/decreto/2003/d4887.htm. Access: 12/05/2021.</footnote>

<footnote n="4">⁴ The concept of *coexistence with the semi-arid* emerges from the action of a wide network of civil society organizations and research institutions, asserting themselves, especially from the 1990s, as a reference for public action guided by principles of social justice and sustainability in opposition to the paradigm of the “fight against drought”, institutionalized from the first decades of the 20th century.</footnote>
in the 1970s, where farmers, STTRs, and pastoral agents connected to the Catholic Church structured what social organizations identify as “the first seed banks.” These initiatives emerged as part of a strategy to adapt to droughts, confront the domination exercised by the *patrões*,<fnref n="5" /> and fight for land.

The following section attempts to reconstruct the initiatives related to collective seed storage developed in the 1980s and 1990s, a period in which these practices were given new meanings through their interactions with international cooperation projects coordinated by NGOs, such as Esplar, that provided technical advice to farmers, in conjunction with other partners. In this new phase, the seeds managed at the community level and the organizational arrangements involved in their aggregation and distribution are translated into the encounter between different social grammars developed by communities, grassroots organizations, technical assistance NGOs, international cooperation agencies, and the State. The appreciation of “native” seeds and criticism of seeds produced by “companies” - poorly adapted to the soil and climate conditions of the semi-arid region - became important references in structuring practices related to the collective storage of seeds from that period.

The third plan takes us to the Sobral-CE region. In daily life, farmers inhabit the Casas de Sementes, mobilizing a broad set of practices that extend beyond the local, linking seeds in multiple ways to a collective project anchored in the idea of *coexistence with the semi-arid*.

Throughout the text, we highlight not only the technical and managerial aspects related to these symbolic and material arrangements, but also the support they offer to individual and collective action, transforming the relations established by farmers with each other and with nature in the Semi-arid. We also understand that the choice of the seed houses as an entry point in the restitution of the multiple chains of “agencements” that link seeds, land, water, and public policies in the Semi-arid complexifies our view of the processes of adaptation to climate adversities. This methodological choice helps us to break with the climate-society dichotomy, exploring the different ways in which social energies, biological processes, and meteorological forces interact in a permanent process of co-production (TAYLOR, 2015). Power asymmetries and inequalities stand as a central axis in this framework. Our inquiries are not limited therefore to problems related to the incorporation of technologies or the efficient management of certain resources. The guarantee of rights is understood in this work as a central component of the processes of social and ecological change anchored in principles of sustainability.

<footnote n="5">⁵ In this text, the word “patrões”, is used in the sense of designating social actors recognized as owners of the land where peasants work or live, reinforcing that the domain exercised by these agents over families is not often restricted to the universe of work and economic activities, assuming political dimensions and being extended to different spheres of everyday life.</footnote>
The text has been organized in three different sections, corresponding to each of the three historical plans, followed by the final considerations.

## "The Battalion managing the emergency and disorganizing the people all the time": the struggles for rights, land, and seeds in the 1970s

Referring to the genesis and evolution of community seed banks in Brazil, Almeida and Cordeiro (2002) mention the organization of community seed stocks in different dioceses and parishes in the Northeast of Brazil, starting in the 1970s, through the initiative of the Base Ecclesial Communities (CEBs). This historical record takes us to the Ceará hinterlands of Inhamuns and Crateús and the materials preserved in the Esplar Documentation Center. We accessed the report of the First Meeting of the Ceará Seeds Network in 1992. In a photographic record of this meeting are Father Bernardo Holmes and a blackboard that reads: "1 - Why did it start? Tauá - 1970."

Tauá is a municipality located in the hinterland of Inhamuns-CE. Father Holmes, born in Ireland in the 1940s, was ordained a Redemptorist Missionary of the Catholic Church in 1970 in that same country. Later he was transferred to Brazil and participated in the structuring of the Base Ecclesial Commissions (CEBs) in the state of Ceará. His speech, transcribed in the same report, helps us answer his question about the origin of the seed banks: "I would like to remind you that we are in the region of Tauá, and we are in 1970. Tauá is perhaps the driest area in Brazil. It is also the area with the greatest concentration of land in the hands of large landowners. Many people work on the land without owning anything. Working on leased land; residents; but without land ownership" (ESPLAR, 1992, p. 14).

As far as access to land is concerned, the reality of Northern Ceará has not changed significantly since then. According to the RIS partners, more than 90% of farmers in the Network live on "the patróes' land," reproducing relations of dependency that persist to this day. A farmer woman affiliated to RIS explains in an interview registered in July 2019: "any paper we need, to prove that we are farmers, we first need to talk to the patrão, because the land is in his name. Some patróes are very good and always help, others are not...".

The dominance of "the patróes" over the land encompasses refined forms of control and subordination, involving labor relations and access to inputs necessary for production, including seeds. These rules are established by agreements, usually informal, that structure the work regime. Seeds have historically served
as a bargaining chip for the work performed or debt to be paid off (in money or labor), structuring relationships from which many farmers could not escape.

From an ecological perspective in the semi-arid region, it is necessary to understand that “when it rains, you have to plant; you cannot wait.” In the *sertão*, the low rainfall, unevenly distributed over time, is concentrated in a short period of the year, with rainfall levels in the rainy season, in the case of Ceará, between 500 and 600 mm per year, although with variations (HIERA et al., 2019). For this reason, some farmers preferred to contract a debt by getting seeds from their “patróes” or acquiring this input in local markets to sow the seed in the soil “at the right time.” The “race” to find seeds was necessary and urgent to guarantee subsistence production (i.e., food for the family).

Note that the 1970s, when these collective strategies for seed storage began to be structured, were marked by the repressive actions of the Brazilian state, which sought, often violently, to politically deflate the struggle for land (MARTINS, 1984). The action of progressive sectors of the Catholic Church, particularly the Base Ecclesial Communities (CEBs) and the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), was decisive for social organizations to continue acting at the local level, rooting their actions in the daily worker problems.

In the words of Father Holmes, “the 1970 drought was very strong in Ceará, causing humiliation”. “The Battalion managed the emergency and disoriented the people all the time”. The Battalion was involved in emergency actions developed by the Federal Government to combat drought in collaboration with state and municipal governments, often with the Army’s engineering services. When the droughts worsened, the rural population of the semi-arid region was employed in work fronts and activities such as the construction of roads and dams, often implemented inside private properties benefiting medium and large farmers.

This governmental presence was also translated at the local level, into constant pressure on rural worker organizations at a time when the so-called “combative” unions, committed to the defense of rural worker rights, were more the exception than the rule. The testimonial of a farmer, a union delegate in Tauá in that period, registered in a report preserved in the Esplar Documentation Center, is quite illustrative: “we had a time when things were complicated (...) If you were going to hold a meeting, you had to be hidden. We even had to dig some holes in the weir spillway to hide and discuss these problems. Then, it became very difficult to follow up with the workers” (ESPLAR, 1992, p. 17). At that time, in response to the approval of the new legislation that regulated sharecropping relations and dwelling on the land of the *patróes*, especially the Land Statute, the unionization of rural workers often resulted in their expulsion from the land (BESERRA, 2015).
Despite the obstacles, religious agents and peasant leaders believed it was necessary to continue the process of social organization. The challenges in accessing seeds, given the relations of dependence established with the *patrões*, were keenly felt in the daily lives of farming families, serving as a discrete pretext for the organization of farmers at the grassroots level. This political translation of seeds into social organization tools expanded farmers’ autonomy, allowing them to “escape dependence from the *patrões* (...), thus breaking that short halter that the *patrões* had on the workers’ necks” (ESPLAR, 1992, p. 14). The stocks organized in the banks allowed the seeds to survive the dry season and be planted when the rains returned, even in periods of great food shortage when people or animals consumed domestic stocks.

As mentioned in the Report of the 1st Meeting of the RIS Ceará (ESPLAR-1992), the union delegate of the Barra Nova district in Tauá bought the first vegetable seeds for collective storage, acquired in the local market through a partnership with the Diocese of Crateús.

Recounting the bi-monthly meetings of the seed bank, Father Holmes recalls:

> The meetings were almost always on Saturdays. They were in a discreet little room in Alto Brilhante; each one brought a little bit of beans, *jerimum*[pumpkin], whatever they had to share at lunchtime. And it always started with each one telling stories, exchanging experiences [about] the concrete situation in the communities. All these questions, returning [the seeds to the bank], where we are going to store [them], the question of seed selection and other problems [...], everything came in [...]. We did a whole survey of who the landowners around us were. So we made [...] a land map of the municipality, based on the information that each worker brought. And the union? Everything was up for debate. The subject of seed banks came up but from there it opened.

The seed banks operated at the intersection between the political struggle and access to food in that first period. Though land and water were subjugated to the power of the *patrões* because of the current land model, access to seeds and organizational practices developed through the banks such that the farmers learned to “organize themselves in the community,” sit down and hold meetings,” “coordinate conversations,” and “make decisions and hold them together” (ESPLAR, 1992, p. 16).
Conservation, rescue, and management of
agricultural and food diversity in the semi-arid
region: the new translations of the Seed Houses

Reflecting on the emergence of biodiversity conservation as a global problem, Escobar (1998) calls attention to the dual nature of this phenomenon. From a biological perspective, the diversity of plants, animals, and microorganisms on the planet reflects the complexity of living systems and their evolution. From a discursive perspective, however, biodiversity is a technical-scientific construction that burst into the international public debate in the 1980s and 1990s through the action of a diverse set of actors, including multilateral organizations, international research institutions, governments, environmentalists of various shades, development NGOs, and social movements. The identity of each of these actors “is affected by and affects the network” (ESCOBAR, 1998, p. 55). However, although the effects of this global network can trigger a series of processes of translation, mediation, appropriation, and subversion, the local and territorial dynamics related to biodiversity are not influenced solely by extra-local factors. Thus, each place “can be the basis of its own network” (ESCOBAR, 1998, p. 55–56).

The establishment of genetic diversity banks for agricultural and food use in different countries has gained visibility at the international level, initially through the work of NGOs in different continents. Vernooy et al. (2015) analyze the origin and evolution of these initiatives and show the multiple factors that drove their emergence: the loss of local seed supplies used by farmers during famines, droughts, or floods and the interest in accessing new cultivars developed through participatory breeding techniques. They also call attention to the multiple activities developed by the banks, such as the structuring of community germplasm stocks, participatory experimentation, improving cultivars, and implementing networks to exchange genetic resources. In the case of Ceará, the work developed by Esplar, together with the solid partnership established with Cáritas, the STTRs, and different grassroots organizations, was of fundamental importance such that the different seed bank actions could be articulated. In this movement, new capacities were developed, expanding the functionality of seed houses as collective devices.

Esplar was originally founded as an office providing different services, such as project evaluation, and technical advice. These activities allowed the organization team members to know the collective storage actions developed in the Tauá region. From 1984, this office became a non-profit institution affiliated to the Alternative Technology Project Network (Rede Projeto Tecnologias Alternativas
- PTA Network), initially linked to the Rio de Janeiro-based non-governmental organization called Federação de Órgãos de Assistência Social e Educacional (FASE). Over time, the PTA Network brought together different Centers for Alternative Technologies (CTAs), set up in the North, South, and Southeast regions of the country (DIAS, 2004).

Through this partnership, the Quixeramobim Center for Alternative Technologies (CTAQ) was founded, working in technical support for agricultural production and the development of alternative technologies operating, also, as a training center. In his doctoral thesis, Dias (2004:131) retrieves the testimony of a technician who participated in the creation of the CTAQ on the meaning of the work to be developed by the recently founded institution: "We have this idea of making a more productive unit because it is a form of reinforcing the struggle of the workers. It is in this sense that we will make an effort to organize this set of techniques to be an alternative agriculture, which is the proposal that we want to put into practice at the Quixeramobim center".

It is important to highlight that Esplar's work has been historically linked to the fight for the land (BESERRA, 2015). The institution actively participated in the National Campaign “Agrarian Reform Now” in 1985, operating in strong synergy with the actions developed by the STTRs and other social movements in defense of the rights of rural populations.

With the foundation of CTAQ and the connections established between Esplar and the PTA Network, assistance to the seed banks took on new contours, with important advances from a technical perspective. A research project developed by Esplar allowed for better identification of the main challenges faced by farmers working with the seed banks, including (i) the guaranteed access to seeds, (ii) replenishment of stocks, and (iii) management of the banks. The technical qualification of the recovery and multiplication of new varieties was becoming increasingly important in the advisory work. It was observed that, in the flow of lending and returning seeds, the stored stock was becoming more diverse, not always in a planned manner, generating concerns regarding the preservation of varieties adapted to the ecological conditions of the semi-arid region. The preservation of seeds “adapted to regional conditions” as well as the “custom of saving seeds” and the knowledge associated with these practices became increasingly prominent in the entity’s report.

It is important to note that from the 1980s onwards, the erosion of genetic diversity in agriculture, including plants for agricultural and food use and animal breeds, gained visibility in the international arena and among the networks and organizations that worked to defend an alternative agriculture in Brazil. In 1987, the book *The Seed Scandal: Domination in Food Production* written by
Pat Mooney was published in Portuguese (MOONEY, 1987). The author is a researcher, activist, and co-founder of the Rural Advancement Foundation International, today called the Action Group on Erosion, Technology, and Concentration. The negative effects of post-war modernization regarding agricultural and food diversity became an object of discussion, at least in some circles composed of environmentalists and agricultural science professionals critical of the so-called Green Revolution.

In the early 1990s, the passage through the National Congress of a bill that sought to implement a system of industrial patents in Brazil mobilized a broad range of civil society organizations, including those linked to peasants and rural workers, in the struggle against the patenting of plants, microorganisms, and other living beings and in defense of the right of farmers and traditional people and communities to save, use, exchange and sell their seeds. In this same period, the thematic network of seeds associated to the PTA Network began to coordinate, in partnership with researchers working on the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), among other institutions, the National Trial of Crioulo Maize Varieties, with the implementation of experimental fields aimed at the participatory improvement of this crop in different regions of Brazil. In this context, in the early 1990s, the Ceará Seed Exchange Network (RIS-CE) was created. In 1993, during the 2nd RIS Meeting, the network structured a coordination body composed by representatives from various regions of Ceará. The event also consolidated the use of the expression “Casa de Sementes,” based on the argument that collective storage is more directly related to the management of a house than the administration of a bank, with its system of debits and credits. We had the opportunity to hear “in Ceará it is Casa” several times during fieldwork.

According to the report of the PTA Network Seeds Seminar held in Vitória, Espírito Santo, in July 1994, RIS Ceará articulated, in 1994, 67 seed banks in 12 municipalities, involving 2,000 people (Rede PTA, 1994). With the support of different projects funded by international cooperation agencies, the network sought to face the weakening stocks of seeds from community banks resulting from a long period of drought in the early 1990s.

However, this state-level articulation process had its roots in a varied set of experiences developed at the local and regional level. In the case of the Sobral region, the experiences of collective seed storage date back to the 1980s, when the first seed bank was created in 1983 in the community of Bulandeira, municipality of Santana do Acaraú. The work of pastoral organizations linked to the Catholic Church was fundamental to this process in a context where rural communities faced a “very challenging situation” given prolonged droughts. Through an international cooperation project, it became possible to acquire the seeds that
gave rise to this first seed bank, initially installed in a farmer's house. However, RIS Sobral was only made official in 2003 and is now one of six regional seed networks currently in place in Ceará.

The new connections established by the seed houses in the context of political re-democratization and the emergence on the global political scene of different discourses on biodiversity have broadened the scope of these experiences. The preservation of the biological diversity associated to peasant agriculture in the semi-arid region gained prominence as a collective goal. However, it is not only a matter of preserving the seeds that circulate through the Casas. Domestic seed banks, the diversity cultivated in the fields, and reproductive materials exchanged with neighbors daily or on special occasions, such as religious festivals, are also relevant. Meanwhile, through a series of mediations, peasant organizations established political alliances to advance the defense of rights, combining socially and ecologically contextualized innovation processes (technical, organizational, institutional) with continued action in the field of public policies.

## Seed Houses, daily practices, and policies for coexistence with the semi-arid

This section considers the different ways the Casas de Sementes are inserted into the daily lives of farmers in the municipalities where the Sobral RIS operates and analyzes the links established between these collective devices for the storage and circulation of seeds and different public policies.

In 2019, 50 municipalities, 231 seed houses, and 5,023 partners were integrated into the seven micro-regional divisions of RIS Ceará. The Sobral RIS developed actions in 11 municipalities with more than 2,000 members. The “RIS in Numbers” document made available by Cáritas Diocesana of Sobral, makes it possible a better approximation of the RIS composition. Approximately 47% members (1,149) are women, 46% are men (1,121), 3.3% are young women up to 29 years old (82), and 3.4% are young men (84) up to 29 years old. Notably, women occupy most of the management and coordination spaces in the seed houses.

The fabric of relations structured within the RIS, its connections, and arrangements (extending beyond the network) is an essential component in the functioning of the seed houses. This network structure includes municipal-based organizations, such as the STTRs, the state RIS, the micro-regional divisions of RIS, the Semi-arid Seeds Training and Social Mobilization Program, among other forums and articulations. The RIS stimulates the exchange of genetic materials between the seed houses, diversifying stocks and ensuring their replenishment in