This work aimed as general objective, to identify the farmers of the Settlement Projects of Agricultural Reform in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, with the natural resources of their respective areas and later to elaborate a system of classification of support capacity of the ambient. For the purpose, ten Settlement Projects were selected in the western part of the state, characterized by semi-arid regime in an area of 30.000 ha where qualitative and quantitative parameters of the soil where edalfo, forest and water resources were identified. It was verified that all Settlement Projects presented number of settlers more than the ambient could support, demonstrating the need to reevaluate the size of the agricultural module adopted in these areas, as well as the satisfactory offer of water which allows better exploration of the agricultural potential of the soils of the area, thereby decreasing the pressure on the forest resources.
soils; water; Rio Grande do Norte state; forest inventory; conservation
