Recent climate changes events in south of Brazil have been causing to the rural Produtores economic losses. Drought is one of the phenomena that affects rural production, and with it generates great losses. This research é a part of a larger study and linked project which research about climate changes and model of lives in rural areas and aimed to understand the subjective. This this paper discuss psychological effects of drought has on mental health and well-being of this rural producers. This study was based on qualitative and exploratory research, seeking more proximity to the subject investigated, and was also based on the field research model. A semi-structured interview was carried out with 3 farmers from a rural district area of south of Rio Grande do Sul. According to the results obtained, it was perceptible that the factors that most trigger the mental illness of the rural producers are concerns with the instability of the climate and concerns with debts in situations of production losses. As for the positive aspects, it was noted the great satisfaction that these workers have in performing their work, besides the motivation that good production provides for their general well-being.
Keywords: Rurality, Mental Health, Drought, Climate change
Agricultural activity is conditioned by the climatic situation to result in successful production, a factor that can be predicted, but not controlled. Thus, one of the major problems faced by rural producers is directly linked to long periods of drought, which generates financial and structural losses.1 The drought phenomenon can be a cause of insecurity and concern for farmers which can evolve into a picture of mental illness in this portion of the population.
Understanding obstacles of rural families to access some services in the health area, as well as valuing rural life in a more comprehensive way, not only the productive aspect, but as a lifestyle. In the south Brazilian scenario, there is a precarious picture, in which rural workers are affected by stress, manifested by psychological demands surrounded by context-specific characterizers, mainly by factors related to cultural and economic issues (devaluation and low pay). Among the characterizers, drought can be placed as a specific stressor in this context, which not only causes economic and social losses, but also psychological impacts are present consequently.1
In view of these events, we seek to answer the following question: "How can drought affect the mental health of rural producers?" Based on this question, this research aims to understand the psychological impacts caused by the drought and whether they cause damage to the general well-being of this population. Therefore, the present study aims to identify the social impacts caused by drought on rural producers, specifically on the psychological consequences resulting from drought in the lives of farmers in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul.
The methodological tools used to identify the psychological damage caused to farmers by drought were participant observation and semi-structured interviews. For answering revealed relevant factors that were grouped into the following category: damage to health, presenting the possibilities of pathologies that can affect both the physical and mental health of workers because of their work routine.
In South of Brazil, in February 2025, the highest temperature ever officially registered in the region. Even more, in May 2024 happen the most inundation since ever happened in the region. Thus, drought period is also recognized as the dry season, is a natural catastrophe, which is the scarcity of water, derived from insufficient rainfall. Drought and drought are always mentioned for the same issue, the lack of rainfall, but they differ slightly in their terms.2
According to Grigoletto2 droughts and droughts can have implications for people's health, such as gastrointestinal infectious diseases, felt in the short term, and impacts such as malnutrition and psychosocial disorders, with long-term effects. So, in the rural context is a very challenging field for psychology, either because of the difficult access for research in its territories or even because of its theoretical-methodological material. However, there are experiments carried out in the field of social psychology that reveal a gap in terms of the contribution of psychology regarding ruralities.3
Thus, a historical problem faced in the rural area of Rio Grande do Sul is the drought, which causes enormous economic difficulties for farmers due to crop losses. These concerns generate psychological impacts that can affect the work and health of this population.4
Regarding the psychological impacts caused by crop losses in rural areas, Dantas5 state that rural residents are faced with climate instability, which generates losses due to drought and scarcity of natural resources. In addition, the investments with resources and the lack of gain with them is already a great reason for the development of stress, and losing these resources is more significant than obtaining gains for the well-being of rural workers.6,7
Thus, the conservation of resources is the product of both living conditions and situations that lead to their loss, when such coping resources are lacking, the process of loss begins, individuals then seek strategies for conservation, so that they can improve them, being able to generate new resources and compensate for losses. When these efforts do not yield good results, negative emotional consequences can arise, triggering a process of psychological stress.6,8
However, for the planning of public policies, it is necessary to seek to have a look at the rural, for this way of life and these individuals, contributing to the work of psychology for the well-being of the rural population.
The exploratory and qualitative methodological was carried into a field study with workers (farmers) from the rural area of the interior of the State of Rio Grande do Sul. Thy were interviewed, with the objective of identifying the psychological factors that the periods of drought cause.9
Participants
The participants were selected for convenience by the researcher. After contacting the farmers, who agreed to participate in the research, the participants were available, and the participants signed the Informed Consent Form respecting all ethical assumptions.
Data collection took place between May and June 2021, The choice of 3 participants/informants of this research was based on the saturation criterion.10 Thus, workers from rural areas, farmers from a municipality in the interior of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, participated in the research. All of them obey the following criteria be a rural producer, in the area of agriculture and/or livestock, and may be a self-employed smallholder and/or salaried employee, as well as being a resident or not of the workplace, who have experienced, in the last 2 years, for at least one year, facing the drought, being over 18 years old.
Ethical assumptions
The informant of the research received a complete and clear explanation, in such a way that about the objectives and procedures used in the research. Above all, the freedom to withdraw from the process if they felt any discomfort during the interviews was respected. There was no cost to the participants. However, the data they identify has been changed with fictitious names, to preserve the anonymity of each participant. The research complied with resolution 466/12 of the National Health Council and was registered on the Plataforma Brasil under the CAAE number: 28476020.3.0000.557.
The analysis was structured from the data collected in the semi-structured interview carried out individually with each participant, the data were transcribed, and consonance was sought between the participants' statements, these were divided into a category with clippings of the most relevant parts of the interviews followed by their analysis. The three participants of the interviews will be shortly presented below.
MARCOS: 62 years old, married, lives in the city and works in the countryside: father of 3 adult children. He worked with fruit and vegetables and has been working as a farmer for 12 years, planting soybeans. Her daughter is a pharmacist, and the other two sons work with fruit and vegetables.
JOÃO: 56 years old, married, lives in the city and works in the countryside. He is a cattle breeder, in the summer he leases the land he owns for planting, and in the winter, he takes over the pastures, he studied law and practiced the profession for 1 year and a half and gave up to work in cattle raising, being the area that he most identifies with, his wife works as a hairdresser.
GILNEI: 73 years old, married, lives in the rural area, has worked as a farmer, planting rice, for about 30 years, currently no longer exercises this profession. He is retired, he left agriculture after a great loss because of the heavy rains that devastated the plantations years ago, causing many debts which he had to leave the profession, his wife works with sewing and bread sales in the city.
Climate concern
Concern with the climate during periods of drought, facts that are, according to Grigoletto et al.,2 difficult to measure, since there is great difficulty in identifying the impacts from the phenomena caused by the climate, such as drought, hail, drought, forest fires, cold and heat waves, among others. With the low soil moisture during the dry periods, the workers reported having great concern about the waiting time for the weather to improve.
"Agriculture is a profitable thing, but it is not guaranteed, it depends a lot on the climate..." (MARCOS, 62 years old).
“[...] due to the lack of water, the quality of the pasture decreases and in addition to the cattle becoming thin, the cows do not reproduce as they should, reducing the calves..." (JOÃO, 56 years old).
As the participants above report, the climate is the main reason for the work in the field to have a good result or not, causing concerns with planting or pasture for cattle, which may not reproduce, as well as the plantations causing losses due to dry weather or excessive rainfall.
As stated by Grigoletto2 disasters resulting from prolonged drought affect millions of people, contributing to hunger and poverty, in addition to causing diseases and other aggravating factors such as psychosocial disorders, with long-term effects. In addition, it is also noticeable that the presence of hail is worrying for producers due to the high degree of destruction of crops, which in addition to its impacts on agriculture. Hail can destroy vegetation, and cause damage to animals, buildings, vehicles and even humans.11
It is noticeable that the climate as a result of the drought can influence both the physical and mental health of both farmers and the population in general due to its great losses in the loss of food, work and investment.
The long periods of work in the field are one of the main comments that there is on the part of farmers, the workload usually starts at dawn and proceeds until night, especially in planting and harvesting seasons Work with great exposure to the sun and a lot of physical effort. According to Menegat and Fontana (2010),4 the farmers' work routine is arduous, with an average workload of between 12 and 14 hours a day.
"In rural areas we work a lot, we start early in the morning and go until night, at planting and harvesting time everything is more laborious, because we don't have a schedule to work, there is no holiday, there is no holy day, a day that you stop working you already lose" (MARCOS, 62 years old).
The workload in the field, whether with agriculture or livestock, takes place for intense and long hours, which can cause damage to health. Most of these workers spend more than 12 hours a day working, which makes them more vulnerable to both physical and mental illness, considering the long hours of fatigue due to overwork.4
It is noted that excessive work can cause a lot of damage to health, harming the well-being of farmers and bringing more concerns beyond work, which can cause various pathologies. Thus, it is believed that the arduous workday, the presence of environmental risks characteristic of agricultural activities, the uncertainty of a good harvest, which generates concern, is responsible for complaints of illness offered to rural workers.4
Damage to health
One of the central points in the reports was the losses that excessive worries affect producers, in which they cause changes in sleep or anxiety. A major problem faced in the rural area of Rio Grande do Sul is the drought, which causes enormous economic difficulties for farmers due to crop losses. These concerns generate psychological impacts and can affect the work and health of this group.4
“[...] I went through a little anxiety and concerns about the loss last year, and with the negative information from the media that next year would be worse and it would rain less, which did not happen, because in 2021 the harvest was good" (MARCOS, 62 years old).
“[...] you have to know how to deal with it, you know, but sometimes we get a lot of stress, we want to drop everything, give up, but then we think that in a few days it will get better and we keep dealing with it, it's what we know how to do, so we have to deal with it" (JOÃO, 56 years old).
"The worst thing is the worry, it's the worst thing for our health, the service doesn't kill" (GILNEI, 73 years old).
Mental health becomes vulnerable when there is a break in expectations at work, because work is interconnected with the individual's subjectivity, who, hoping to meet these expectations, when the individual does not meet them, feels frustration because his work does not respond in the way he wanted.12,13
It is seen that the form of work affects mental and physical health, and pathologies may arise that affect the life and well-being of the individual. Spinal problems may arise due to hard work, as well as allergies and poisoning due to pesticide use and fatigue due to long periods of work.4
Considering that the work in agriculture is quite arduous and with its success uncertain, it can be considered that the information obtained through the interviews with the farmers shows that there is a psychic illness as a result of the excessive concern with the climatic uncertainties that affect the performance of the work. They cause anxiety and stress in some farmers, lack of sleep is also very present, and long workloads that reduce rest, which can bring long-term health complications. It is also possible to highlight that not only drought, but also other natural phenomena, such as hail or excessive rainfall, for example, can cause damage to agriculture, and bring equally worrying losses to the producer, opening up new future studies on agrarian issues.
Positive observations, such as those of great satisfaction and meeting expectations in relation to work in agriculture, show that work in the field has a motivating impact for rural workers. Bringing well-being with the functions of agriculture. It should be considered that the rural environment needs more attention to the mental health of rural producers. Perceiving the factors that can generate a psychic illness because of the damage that work in the field can bring.
It is important to bring a psychological perspective to this population through public policies, always aiming to value the well-being and health of the worker and break with the view that rural life is something primitive but a lifestyle of a population that presents its particularities in its social space. Attention is paid to this theme being further investigated, opening new spaces for studies on the psychological impacts that natural adversities can bring to the mental health of people who live off the land, bringing new perspectives to the rural environment that represents a great development for the country.
None.
This Research Article received no external funding.
Regarding the publication of this article, the authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
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