00:00To understand better the context, in our third program of Brazil Decides Expedition,
00:04our team traveled to the semi-arid region of Rio Grande do Norte in northeastern Brazil
00:10to tell the challenges experienced by the rural workers of this region.
00:14Andra Vieira with the story.
00:19The Brazilian semi-arid region is one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
00:26According to the National Institute of the Semi-Arid,
00:30around 28 million people live in the more than 20 hundred municipalities that make up this territory.
00:36It is September and we are in the dry season.
00:41This is not an ordinary water tank.
00:43It is a cistern, which is known as a mother's around here.
00:49This popular technology stores the rainwater that falls between February and May.
00:56We used to go and collect drinking water from the desalinator in a nearby community.
01:02Since these cisterns were built, they have never dried up.
01:08We maintain them every year and use the rainwater for cooking and drinking.
01:13Rayanne, her father and her mother, are among the 1.2 million families
01:18who have benefited from water access technologies since 2003,
01:24according to the Ministry of Social Development and Assistance.
01:30The main cistern was scaled up starting in 2000,
01:35when the Brazilian Semi-Arid, an entity of popular movements,
01:40proposed the goal of building 1 million cisterns.
01:43This project was adopted by the state in 2003,
01:47during President Lula da Silva's first term.
01:51It is actions like this that allow the countryside to survive.
01:57Mr. Duda, age 68, is the only one of 10 siblings to remain in the countryside.
02:04Well, I believe that more incentives are needed in the countryside
02:10to encourage these new generations to stay there.
02:15Because, in this case, the situation is as follows.
02:18There is no longer any succession.
02:20This is not happening in the countryside.
02:23Cisterns for human consumption can store up to 16,000 liters of water.
02:30The program peaked in 2014 under Dilma Rousseff's government
02:36with almost 150,000 cisterns and hit rock bottom in 2022
02:42under Jair Bolsonaro's government with fewer than 4,000 constructed.
02:48Maria Josette is part of another family that has benefited from public policies.
02:53As well as the cistern, she has a water recycling system and a biodigester,
02:57which were installed by the CPAC Institute using federal funds.
03:02Biodigester. This produces gas for my kitchen.
03:06I can go up to six months without buying any.
03:09My husband milks the cows
03:12and brings the manure here to put in this tank.
03:18Here, he dissolves it in water,
03:21which then goes down through a pipe over there.
03:23Below this box, the gas is produced and goes through that pipe.
03:27It goes to my kitchen.
03:29It does not rain in this region known as Sertou between June and January.
03:34However, according to the inhabitants of this place,
03:37this period is lengthening.
03:40It is not only the peasants who are being harmed.
03:43The city is also suffering the consequences of increasing droughts.
03:50Before, it used to rain earlier in the year, in December.
03:54Now it starts in January, a little, and only by March does the rain begin.
03:59I don't know why.
04:00The world is going crazy, isn't it?
04:04It must be because of climate change.
04:07I believe the city will also be affected because, where will the food come from?
04:1370% of Brazilian food comes from small farmers and family farms,
04:17starting with milk, cheese, vegetables, and fruit.
04:23Large producers export their produce, right?
04:25It's the small producer who sustains the table.
04:28In the face of the climate crisis and the dominance of agricultural technologies,
04:34rural areas are calling for more public policies to survive and continue feeding the cities.
04:40Andre Vieira and Sebastião Souto, Telesur, Brazil.
04:44We'll see you next time.
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