Climatic changes perceptions by smallholders in the Brazilian Cerrado

The Brazilian Cerrado covered originally 22% of the national territory, being considered a hotspot. Since the 1970’s the Cerrado biome suffers from the conversion of its ecosystems into large scale agriculture and cattle ranching. The Cerrado occupies 40% of  Mato  Grosso state, an area of 903.366.192km²; 47 indigenous peoples, traditional communities and 124 thousand small family farmers inhabit the state. This research interviewed 100 smallholders to verify their knowledge about rainfall changes, its impacts and the adoption of agricultural practices in face of those changes. The results showed that 94% of them observed a decrease on rainfall and/or a temporal displacement with consequences such as loss of cattle, fields and agriculture production. Adaptations in the production system were made by 42% of the smallholders. The capacity of adaptation to climatic changes by these smallholders depends on their perception of environmental  changes  and the consequences of those on their life style.