and fertilization of their soils (Table 4). Far less than half of
the households prepare their soil employing standard practices
such as plowing, shallow cultivation, or non-til agriculture.
Also soil fertilization is not standard, as only a third of the
family farmers use this kind of technology. Again, the best
performance is found in the South and the worst in the North
(Figure 1.6). Irrigation practices are also rare throughout Brazil.
Except in the South East, irrigation is nearly absent, even
in the dry regions of the North East. Accordingly, the level of
mechanization is generally low. Only 17.43% of the family
farmers own machines such as tractors, soil cultivators or sowing
machines. In the North, the use of such machines is limited
to less than 3% of the farmers