Rural settlements in Brazil were created in order to confront pressures and are characterized by the lack of planning prior to the diagnosis and implementation of the natural resources related to land suitability evaluation, distribution of classes such as topography, rivers system, vegetation, and support mechanisms. The aim of this study was to evaluate the agricultural capacity of the lands which were allotted to the settlement of rural families by the National Institute of Colonization and Land Reform (INCRA), applying the system of Agricultural Evaluation and Land Suitability (SAAT) associated with a Geographical Information System (GIS) functioning at the Eldorado dos Carajás Settlement Project, located in the municipality of Lebon Régis, SC, Brazil. In order to carry out the study there was a choice to use thematic maps from geographical information systems so that the special data could be stored and integrated. The use of the SIG made possible the analysis and integration of the themes with significant time reduction and subjectivity in the crossings of data. The use of this methodology provided two threshold responses to the planning of the use of rural areas natural resources: the classes of agricultural capacity, highlighting the main limiting factors and the viability of land improvement on technological B level of the methodology; and when confronting the thematic maps and the recorded data of the settlement, both regularities and irregularities in the use of the land in each area were revealed.
land evaluation; agricultural planning; sustainability and conservation of natural resources
