Avaliação do Cenário Agropecuário Atual de Assentamentos Rurais do MATOPIBA.

Land use and suitability are essential tools for territorial planning of rural settlement. This work describes an analysis of these factors in a group of 18 MATOPIBA consolidated rural settlements created more than 10 years ago. These settlements are located in 12 different cities, 1 in Bahia, 6 in Maranhão and 11 in Tocantins, summarizing more than 77 thousand hectares and sheltering almost one thousand families. Regional scale data allows an overview of the situation. A land use analysis indicates a majority of natural vegetation and pasture, which represents 56% and 36%, respectively. Land suitability presents that 63% of the area is suitable for crops use and 36% for pasture. The intensive use for crops heavily depends on the use of technology. This can be a limiting factor for the development of many rural settlements. The intensive use to the land for agriculture heavily depends on the technology application. These results provide a background to discussions about suitable land use and regional development