An analysis was made of irrigated perimeters as a geopolitical strategy for expanding Brazilian agricultural frontiers and the "development" of the northeastern semi-arid region with respect to social determinants in health in rural communities. Research was conducted in the Chapada do Apodi in the states of Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte between 2007 and 2011. Various research techniques and tools were adopted, such as research-action, ethnographic studies, questionnaires and laboratory exams, water contamination analyses, social cartography and focal groups. In the context of agribusiness expansion, it was revealed that public policies of irrigation have had consequences for health, labor and the environment with the implementation of the Jaguaribe-Apodi Irrigated Perimeter in Ceará. The social and environmental conflict and resistance in the phase prior to the installation of the Santa Cruz do Apodi Irrigated Perimeter in Rio Grande do Norte was significant as it had consequences for the health-disease process on rural communities. It is important for the evaluation of public irrigation policies to consider the impacts of the perimeters on the lifestyle, labor, health and the environment of the affected territories.
Health of the rural population; Health-disease process; Agricultural Irrigation; Occupational health; Environmental health; Public policies
