Assessment of Soil Moisture by Family Farmers Under Multi-Cropping Systems in a Semiarid Region.

Sustainable practices are key factors in the advancement of environmental protection in agroecosystems, especially if these systems are situated in degraded and vulnerable areas, such as semiarid regions. One sustainable practice developed primarily in tropical farms is the use of a multi-cropping system. This system was applied using participatory approaches by family farmers from a semiarid region of Brazil and evaluated based on the perception and monitoring of the farmers, particularly the soil moisture enhancement in their productive areas. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the impact of management practices on soil moisture in multi-cropping areas using an alternative method, based on the standard method, developed and applied by farmers in the field. In addition, the soil moisture alterations in multi-cropping systems were evaluated considering the water retention curve and the soil moisture monitoring in situ. We concluded that conservative practices in multi-cropping systems do contribute to water conservation. Furthermore, the establishment of a methodology to evaluate multi-cropping systems directly in the field by farmers is an important strategy to show to the farmers’ results that confirm the importance of the practices developed by them to maintain good production and general benefits to the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]